Expectations have changed. Following the pandemic, many workers, particularly knowledge workers, professionals, and many workers doing support functions, realized that they can do their jobs at home. Bosses noticed as well, as productivity didn’t decrease for many workers.

Yes, many employers are calling back their employees. There is an advantage to having team members together in an office. Certain problems get identified and solved quickly. Team members establish bonds. Colleagues can get feedback with a simple look and body language as work gets done.

But there are also massive advantages to having the flexibility to work from home. Less commuting time gives employees more time to be productive, or simply rest or take care of life’s daily obligations. It’s easier in so many ways. Americans are now having more babies! That’s just one example of how quality of life can improve with flexibility.

The Hybrid Model

Of course, more of us realize that in office work and work from home are not binary choices. The hybrid model can give us the best of both worlds, if implemented properly.

Many prospective employees now expect this when applying for a job. Employers make sure to note that hybrid work is an option.

There are issues of course around implementation. How does this apply to different jobs and departments. Employees need to understand the policies and most need to perceive the policies as being fair. Employers should not make the mistake of thinking that everyone should be treated in exactly the same way. For some employees, work from home on most days can make sense. For others, it’s necessary to have a predominantly in office policy. Just have rational policies on how to differentiate between workers and roles.

In Office Days

Having workers in the office does little for productivity of other team members are at home. It’s important to set up policies and schedules so that team members are often in the office on the same days. This can vary by team and department to best utilize office space. Set the expectations and enforce them, but again be careful to allow flexibility as long as workers don’t abuse the privilege.

Training and Rules

Give your team the tools to be effective. Train them on how to be most effective when working from home. Set up clear rules and policies on availability.

That said, understand that some employees love to start early and knock out a significant amount of the day’s work before lunchtime. If you’re seeing that and good performance, don’t hassle the employee regularly with 4 pm Zoom calls. Be understanding if they’re taking a call at the coffee shop in the afternoon.

Make office time productive

Employers should be mindful to take advantage of days when team members are in the office. Meetings should mostly be held on those days. Also be mindful of the workplace experience. Don’t neglect this given that fewer employees are there every day. Young people in particular want to be in the office and need the interaction with supervisors and more experienced team members. You may find that getting more senior members in the office becomes more difficult than dealing with younger workers.

Challenge you HR team

Effective HR is even more important now with hybrid work. The rules and expectations are more fluid. Listen to your employees. Engage with other companies dealing with similar issues. Understand that policies will need to evolve. Good communication will help your team through this, and eventually thrive.

The remote work trend that was turbocharged by the pandemic is now getting a boost from programs offering incentives to remote workers to move into less expensive cities and towns. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal explains that 71 cities and towns are offering incentives for workers to move there. These incentives often involve cash payments to the workers. Indianapolis-based MakeMyMove is contracted by cities and towns to set up these programs.

These programs make a lot of sense. Remote workers no longer have to locate in areas with a high cost of living. They can move anywhere. Meanwhile, these workers are very attractive to smaller cities and towns, adding to the tax base and purchasing power of the population, without adding congestion to local traffic. Paying incentives is a great way to make a particular city or town more attractive to a worker considering a move.

Expect this trend to continue barring a significant economic downturn.

Facebook is expanding its work-from-home policy to most employees, other than jobs like hardware maintenance that require on-site work. The company will also begin allowing employees to request remote work across international borders.

Facebook will have some form of hybrid work as well:

Zuckerberg said employees who want to work in an office will be asked to come in at least half the time. This is to ensure that the office remains vibrant and that employees who do come into the office make the most of being a part of that community.

Additionally, he said Facebook plans to organize regular in-person gathers for office and remote workers “to support the relationship-building.”

This is a smart move as Facebook is in a heated battle for content, and frankly expectations are changing.

Google is finding that many employees want to return to the office, but not necessarily on a full-time basis. Many would prefer the option to work from home and then come into the office when needed and for meetings and events.

This hybrid model may become more common, and certainly provides flexibility that will be sought by many employees.

It also raises challenges of course. Companies like Google need to consider of some employees can be mostly virtual so that they don’t have to live in hyper-expensive cities like San Francisco.

But flexibility is a good thing if managed correctly. So get ready to hear of more “hybrid” workplace solutions.

How soon will workplaces return to normal? In many cases, will there be a new normal?

Not surprisingly, the answers will vary sector-to-sector and business-to-business.

Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins said the following: “I think you’ll see many employees that will continue to work from home, you’ll have many that will get back to the office and then you’ll have some that’ll do a little bit of both.”

Companies that navigate this successfully will have a huge advantage over companies who don’t adapt, and this can lead to greater productivity and also reduce overhead costs such as expensive office space in the future.

Many have been predicting that we will see changes in work from home policies across many industries as a result of the Coronavirus. But this is still a surprise. By announcing that all employees will have the option of working from home, Twitter is setting the bar for other companies thinking about how to handle this issue.

Of course this raises a host of issues as well. Is it an either/or choice for employees? Or can they select a hybrid approach? Can they primarily work from home but then come in from time to time? Also, how will this affect the future of Twitter’s San Francisco HQ and other offices? Can this be a critical first step in easing the crowding in some of our largest cities?

It will be fascinating to see how this plays out.

With so many people working from home during the Covid-19 crisis, more people are learning about the benefits of working from home:

As most Americans continue to adjust to working from home during quarantine, the number of hours workers save on commuting hassles is being redistributed into their work.

Remote working certainly has some perks during the COVID-19 crisis. Social distancing and shelter-in-place are two of the best ways to help combat the virus since it encourages people to stay indoors and not head over to the office. But the additional free-time that comes with no commutes and standing in traffic for countless hours means US workdays are up by three hours since the rise in the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new analysis.

Of course, other productivity issues can arise with distractions at home, particularly if you have kids at home.

But the advantages of eliminating commuting time is real. This gives workers so much more time to work with during the day, and an 11-hour day feels like a normal 8-hour day.

It will be interesting to see how employers use this information. Having worked from home for years, this isn’t a surprise.

With the Covid-19 crisis, everyone is being forced to re-imagine work. Companies that resisted flexible work arrangements are now doing everything they can to get things done with most of their team stuck at home.

Naturally, this is spilling into the job market as well. LinkedIn reported that remote work’s share of job listings increased 28% in March.

The question will be how much of this persists once we start to return to normal. Companies have been exposed to how much can be done with workers at home, so why devote so many resources to large, corporate offices? What are the long-term implications for commercial real estate? Which industries will see real transformation, and which will mostly go back to normal?

There are may significant advantages for a company letting workers telecommute and work remotely. Productivity often increases as this flexibility makes workers happier. In today’s world, it’s important for a company to offer this option for some jobs.

Yet there are disadvantages when you don’t have workers together on a consistent basis. It’s impossible to replicate the casual environment of workers being together at lunch and around the office. Much gets done when people are together.

Every company needs to strike the right balance, and that’s what Marissa Mayer is trying to do at Yahoo!, but her recent announcement has sparked a backlash.

Here’s a clip:

“To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home.”

Just reading this, it seems like this could have been handled better by bring up the issue and looking at specific jobs. As stated above, balance is best.

But I suspect the problem may have gotten out of control at Yahoo! and that has prompted Mayer to take a hard line. Workers can be very productive at home in terms of how much they work, but it’s harder to keep workers focused on what’s best for the company if they are always at home.

It will be fascinating to see how this story develops.