Mitigate the Risks of Managing Mixed Teams

Organizations are working hard to support employee preferences while balancing business objectives and aligning company values and vision. The most prevalent way they are doing this right now is by offering full time work from home, part-time work from home, and, in many cases, hybrid work positions. Offering such workplace flexibility is a big commitment, and also a tremendous step forward towards improving employee satisfaction and expanding talent pools.

For those organizations inviting employees to work both in office and at home, there are some serious considerations that need to be considered, and some policy changes which should be made:

Managing Mixed Teams is Higher Effort

We’ve spent the last 18 months training and honing skills on managing and supporting people exclusively in digital environments. When we add back in additional time for the in-person interactions, extended discussions, and disruptions that often accompany office-based work, there are going to be time management problems and added stress.

Considering Reducing Team Sizes for Managing Hybrid Teams

We can expect that the addition of in-person interactions is going to stretch our supervisors thin. Those supervisors either are going to have to agree to work longer hours, or the company should decide to reduce team sizes, even if slightly.

Seriously Invest in Your In-person Meeting Technology to Accommodate Both Groups

There are two sound options for running great mixed meetings:

• Everyone takes the meetings from their individual computers, leveling the playing field for all.
• The company makes a serious investment in office meeting room technology, so that everyone feels like they are pretty much in one room.

Stay Committed to Digital-first Channels for Making Decisions and Communicating Them

With mixed teams, digital channels should remain the go-to spots for all company updates, important announcements, meetings, and exchanges. Your employees know where to go to connect – you’ve taken the last 18 months to get that right. In-person interactions in a hybrid environment are the bonus, but not the core platform for gathering and connecting.

Make Digital Social Engagement the Priority and Keep Up the Gamification

By now, your company has established some regular and routine social gathering options for your employees that take place on digital channels. While leveraging office space for in-person interactions is a fantastic idea (even inviting family members for on-site celebrations and festivities), don’t let your digital social activities take a back seat.

Likewise, gamification is not new in the contact center environment or enterprise environment. Team competitions and promotions can be launched within minutes, in addition to center-wide and company-wide activities. There are more vendors to choose from, and costs are coming down to deploy them. Gamification is the insurance policy that every single person in the organization is being reached.