Hybrid work is defined as being able to work both remotely (from home) and at the company’s office on alternative days. Before you decide whether or not hybrid work is for you, let’s take a look at both the pros and the cons:

The Pros of hybrid work:

• Cost-effective: whilst it seems reasonable to want to drive to your workplace every single day to complete your work, its actually way more cost-effective to work from home because not only do you save on fuel and wear and tear (think of the cost of tyres and servicing your vehicle) you also don’t have to endure the traffic for extended periods of time.  The employer also saves money by not needing to have as much office space (saving on office rental and office furniture) as well as savings on utilities such as water, electricity, and kitchen consumables – coffee, tea, milk, and other items. In the same way, the employer also saves money on monthly stationery costs i.e., cartridges for the printer, pens, staplers, punches, and reams of paper which need to be ordered each month for the staff members to use.
• Agreeable alternative: hybrid work would be an agreeable alternative because it’s more effective to do the same amount of work in the comfort of your own home, and at times you are actually more productive as there are fewer interruptions from colleagues. Also, some managers have a tendency to interrupt the work process by constantly checking on where you are and what progress you have made (constantly looking over your shoulder). If your remote (home) work environment is properly set up you will have fewer distractions and be able to get work done more effectively.
• Increased productivity: you will be very surprised as to exactly how much your productivity will improve when you have a workspace free of clutter, distractions, and interruptions resulting in being able to complete more tasks in the day.  Compiling a to-do list will ensure that you concentrate on the right tasks and complete them in the right order as required by your company. The feeling of accomplishing your respective work tasks more efficiently will not only give you a good sense of achievement and boost, but it might positively influence you in completing other tasks which you may have been putting off.
• Happier employees: who would not love the idea of working from home? No distractions, you do not have to set the alarm clock so early and you can do homemade meals for lunch instead of ordering in – or making not-so-appetizing sandwiches for the office. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Employers have seen a significant increase in happiness when comparing employees working in the office versus when the employees were working at home. Happier employees mean happier working environments, improved productivity, and quite possibly increased sales and clients for your business.
• Flexibility: Depending on your employer, employment contract, and work requirements you can in most cases adjust your working hours to suit you. You might want to start at 10:00 and work until 18:00. This might not be the case if you are customer service based and you have to be available for customers between 8:00 – 16:00. The beauty of it all is that you do not need to work a 9 to 5 job because that is what is stated in your contract or what is expected of everyone who works in an office. Hybrid work does offer you flexibility when it is structured correctly.

The cons of hybrid working:

• Distractions: unfortunately, even though it sounds so amazing working from home, we tend to forget that the distractions could be worse in the home environment in comparison with the work environment. In the work environment, you also have distractions such as talkative work colleagues, general office noise/interruptions, coffee machine chatter, and the like. But let’s stop and think about the home environment: if you have children who come home from school in the afternoons (this could be a big distraction), your pets barking at other animals in the backyard, the neighbor playing rock and roll music next door to you. That flat screen television mounted to your wall, does not make you stop and think which show can I binge watch or which movie have I not seen in a while? The temptation from your cell phone – sitting on social media instead of completing your work tasks or attending a meeting virtually but not paying attention. Distractions and temptations take away your focus from the work that needs to be completed. You must be well disciplined and focus on your work so as not to be distracted.
• People interactions: while it might be nice working from home, think about all of the interactions with the people which you will no longer have. In the office environment, you used to be able to get up off your chair and ask a colleague to help or guide you with a particular query or project. Or you would have business/staff meetings where you could talk to your colleagues as well as management. Remotely you would need to call or e-mail someone for assistance or perhaps send them a Whats App message asking for help. This is not quite the same as the face-to-face interaction you have been accustomed to when working in the office environment.

For some sectors and industries hybrid work is the way of the future. Evaluating the pros and cons it does seem as though it has a number of benefits for both companies and people. Hybrid work will almost certainly continue to evolve in order to suit more and more working environments.