Flexible and hybrid working has revolutionised the workplace, particularly at the senior level  but what about employees still growing their careers?

The Pandemic has led to a mixed bag of responses to new ways of working. Where once flexible working was something employees had to negotiate, for some it’s now become a standard way of working, especially a hybrid approach.

As we settle down and new patterns and routines start to shake out, we’re seeing that there are business benefits to be had with flex. For example, a hybrid working model can reduce overheads and operating costs, which is crucial in this current economic climate.

However, for every company in the UK looking to implement hybrid, this is a new challenge and one for which there is no HR blueprint yet, especially when it comes to maintaining a sense of team, upholding togetherness and developing employees in less senior roles who are still building their careers.

This has been made more complicated by what can only be described as a crazy and contradictory job market. Less senior employees do want flexibility, but they also want stronger and clearer lines drawn between work and home.

Yes, it’s very much a candidate-led market of people who, despite their concerns about hybrid still want greater flexibility, but, and this is the key point, they also want opportunities to progress, financial gain, and better acknowledgment and appreciation of their work.

To push this point further, The Economist’s Work-life Balance Barometer highlights that almost two-thirds of senior leaders surveyed believe in-person interaction in the workplace is essential to maintaining an inclusive and connected company culture.

At the same time, over half of senior leaders also believe that giving employees the ability to work remotely for at least part of the week is now essential for employee retention and talent recruitment.

To office or not to office?

With every survey on hybrid working, there’s the same result. Senior level people are reaping the benefits, whereas less senior employees are struggling with wellbeing, work-life balance and being visible for progression.

According to LinkedIn, 72% of businesses surveyed agree that learning and development (L&D) has become a more strategic requirement for their business.

Even those organisations that offered some form of flexibility pre-pandemic didn’t have the challenge of facing this across the whole business, as it was mainly for staff who were further along in their careers so no ‘hand-holding’ required.

Younger employees benefit greatly from being around more experienced colleagues, but if senior-level people prefer to work remotely, how are those people at the beginning of their career expected to progress their careers?

Focusing on Learning and Development

According to LinkedIn, 72% of businesses surveyed agree that learning and development (L&D) has become a more strategic requirement for their business. With new ways of working comes new training requirements, of which there are many.

Key priorities for a lot of businesses are digital transformation and ‘up’ or ‘re’-skilling. The pandemic has brought these gaps into sharp relief and it’s clear there is a lot of work to be done on this area. We are also seeing this challenge across our client base.

In our blog on Being a Great Place to Work, we look at the importance of standing out in a competitive jobs market. However, when all is said and done one of the most effective ways to combat this issue is employee retention.

Less senior employees do want flexibility, but they also want stronger and clearer lines drawn between work and home.

L&D is key to attrition and retention, as is on-the-job learning, shadowing and just generally watching senior managers in action. However, if they’re not in the office then it’s very hard for junior employees to learn by osmosis.

…and if less senior staff members aren’t learning and growing, guess what? They’re going to look elsewhere, hence the ‘Great Reshuffle’ and a crazy jobs market.

It’s important to look at how you can make a hybrid model work with career development always front of mind.

Key L&D requirements to consider:

1. What training do managers need to ensure clearer paths to progression for junior employees through a hybrid model?
2. Where do the skills gap lie amongst senior staff members and what can be done to address them?
3. What can senior managers learn from junior employees? This is a digitally-savvy generation and well-worth tapping in to
4. With some younger employees preferring to be in the office, agree with senior managers when they should also be present to ensure on-the-job learning
5. Ensure regular social interactions to build a sense of togetherness, community, team and to develop relationships. This is especially important for new joiners

In these turbulent times, I appreciate that a hybrid model is potentially more economical for some businesses, which is why establishing clear processes and L&D strategies are going to be more important than ever.

However, hybrid working does put pressure on managers to ensure they’re getting the best out of their team and it also means regular touch points, ongoing feedback and engagement with team-members.

There can also be a lot of guess work when working remotely and we’re starting to see more research on employee stress due to not knowing what’s going on within the organisation or within teams.

Yes, hybrid working does mean a radical transformation to behaviours and processes, but there does need to be a balance between supporting careers and giving employees the flexibility they want or feel they deserve.

Consider this; that rising star who’s impressive on Teams calls could be the future of your business, but if they’re being left out in the ‘remote working cold’ and not getting the training they want, and deserve, they will leave and you will have lost a valuable asset. Makes you think doesn’t it?