With hybrid and distributed teams becoming commonplace, ops leaders everywhere are prompted to re-evaluate the purpose of in-person working. What do you hope to accomplish by working in the same physical space? How can you reach this goal while having a hybrid or remote team?
We held a panel of incredible ops leaders as they shared their thoughts and experiences about the evolving workspace.
Here’s Hubble’s Workspace Satisfaction Report - released just this week!
Key takeaways from a survey of 200+ CEOs, HR, Ops and Workspace leaders
- The most popular workspace strategies: office vs. hybrid vs. remote — which wins?
- Back-to-office mandates: how many days are leaders planning on mandating employees back to the office?
- Measuring workspace success: how are leaders measuring their workspace’s impact on productivity and culture?
Chat to Hubble with any questions you have on full-time offices, part-time offices, or access to on-demand workspaces worldwide - great for adhoc in-person meetings or coworking for distributed teams.
Our guest speakers:
Scott Markovits - Fractional Chief of Staff/COO/Head of Remote
Scott helped build & scale one of the 1st remote-first companies back in 2012. Since then he has helped dozens of companies implement the future of work. By implementing the intentional processes, documentation, tools, and best practices to create world-class remote organizations. Scott also hosts a podcast about remote leadership - Leading from Afar.
Jasmeet Chana - Operations Lead at WeAre8
Jas is a confident and multifaceted operations leader working with tech start-ups preparing for rapid growth. Being a business all-rounder, she has actively been involved in roles within people, commercial, marketing, product and general operations. She has worked across a number of industries including retail, government, charity, deep tech to name a few, from early stage start ups to large corporations. Today, Jas leads ops at a global tech platform, with offices in Europe, the US, and Australia.
Florencia Tettamanti - People & Talent Lead at Primer
Florencia is a People & Talent lead with over 5 years of experience and a broad skillset across all generalist functions, with a focus on change initiatives that improve operations and workplace culture whilst prioritising the most important asset in any organisation - it’s people. Florencia is also a remote work ambassador and work-life balance enthusiast.
Our moderator:
Joe Batten - Head of Commercial Operations at Hubble
Joe is a growth and RevOps specialist, responsible for Commercial Operations at Hubble—The UK’s largest flexible workspace platform. We help businesses give their teams great places to work – whether that's full or part-time offices, or on-demand access to a network of thousands of spaces to work and meet.
Event Recording and Slides
The event recording is below. Check out our YouTube channel for more events!
Event Summary
Please note that this summary has been written by ChatGPT summarizing the event transcript.
Shift Away from Traditional Office Hours: Many companies have moved away from the traditional Monday to Friday in-office work schedule. This indicates a shift towards more flexible work arrangements.
- Benefits of In-Person Work: The benefits of in-person work include strategic problem solving, collaborative work on objectives, team bonding, and socialising. In-person work can serve various purposes.
- Remote Work vs. In-Person Work: It was argued that remote work is just as effective for most tasks and that the primary value of in-person work lies in relationship building and spending time with colleagues.
- Workations and Retreats: Workations (meeting twice a year in different locations) and annual retreats are highlighted as opportunities for team bonding, workshops, and other enriching activities which may serve the purpose of in-person get togethers.
- Importance of Intentionality: Intentionally creating opportunities for employees from different teams to interact and collaborate is crucial for building relationships and fostering a sense of belonging.
- Mandatory vs. Choice for In-Person Work: The decision to make in-person work mandatory or a matter of choice should be guided by a clear understanding of the purpose behind it. Empowering employees with the "why" can lead to greater buy-in.
- Consistency in In-Person Days: If companies adopt a hybrid schedule, it's important to have consistency in the days when employees are expected to be in the office. This ensures that the purpose of face-to-face interaction is fulfilled.
- Productivity Tracking: Demonstrating productivity in a remote work setup is crucial for gaining support from senior leadership for flexible work arrangements.
- Consideration for Employee Needs: It's essential to consider individual preferences and needs when determining in-person work requirements. For example, some employees may benefit from quiet office time, while others may value social interactions.
- Avoiding Presenteeism: Simply being in the office doesn't necessarily equate to productivity. It's important to focus on meaningful work and interactions during in-person days.
- Impact of Hybrid Work on Company Survival: Forcing employees to return to the office without a clear purpose or flexibility may have negative consequences for company viability.
The importance of providing training for remote managers and how managing a remote team requires different skills and approaches compared to managing an in-person team. This is crucial as remote work becomes more prevalent.
