According to Gartner, hybrid work is set to become mainstream

Issued by Coligo Group
Johannesburg, 27 Jun 2022

In a recent study conducted by Gartner, hybrid work is here to stay; now, the question is, are businesses ready?

With 75% of hybrid or remote knowledge workers agreeing their expectations for working flexibly have increased, there is no doubt that the future is hybrid.

How can companies in customer service make hybrid working work?

In 2019, only about 6% of employees primarily worked from home. By May 2020, about 35% of employees were working remotely, close to the estimated percent of workers who could do their jobs remotely.

One of the biggest takeaways of the “Great Work-From-Home-Experiment” was that employees want to keep working remotely – at least some of the time – even as companies reopen their offices.

Contact centre leaders are anticipating that hybrid work will become the norm, with one study predicting that long-term, about 53% of contact centre agents will be primarily in-office, while 47% will be primarily remote.

As a contact centre leader in a hybrid work environment, you’re responsible for making sure your agents are equipped with the customer knowledge and resources to work – and provide great customer service – from anywhere.

How can customer service companies ensure that new hybrid working ways don’t disrupt the way businesses are conducted?

Every company is different and has its own specific goals – so there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution here. That being said, there are certain tactics that will help almost any company adjust to the demands of hybrid working:

Adjust your culture

If people are not going to be working in the office together as much as they used to, it will be vital to find ways to ensure continuity of your culture.

Personalising hybrid work patterns

Some staff will benefit from more remote working, others benefit from more time in the office. Rather than implementing companywide hybrid policies (eg, everyone will work remotely two days per week), it might be better to create individualised plans.

It is essential that businesses become digitally agile in order to support hybrid working and thus remain fully operational while navigating the instability of ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions. This ability to adapt has become a necessity rather than a choice and looks likely to be this way indefinitely.

The pandemic has changed how businesses operate. Customers are engaged with, and won, remotely.

Organisations that had a long-term digital transformation strategy and made investments before the pandemic are showing strong signs of business growth.

This reinforces the notion that a well-equipped workforce that can quickly respond to change is more likely to thrive during periods of adversity.

Furthermore, the important role that collaboration tools and technology will play in the future of work is made evident by the fact that 84% of business leaders plan on accelerating the digitalisation of work processes through the use of video conferencing and other tools.

Is your organisation ready to fully integrate hybrid working? You may need to consider digital transformation first.