Hybrid working may offer all sorts of benefits for both businesses and employees, but there are also a number of challenges that will need to be overcome.
A new report from hardware company Poly suggests many people are having trouble disconnecting, collaborating and learning in a hybrid working environment.
Poly recently surveyed 7,261 hybrid workers around the world (the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Spain and the UAE) and found that 58 percent struggle to separate work from their private lives, with unwelcome consequences for their mental health.
Meanwhile, almost half (47 percent) believe they are missing out on opportunities to learn from senior staff in the office, and 52 percent think they could be treated differently, or even discriminated against, compared to their colleagues who chose to return to the office.
Despite being under the impression that working remotely could damage their mental health and their careers, many don’t want to return to the office full-time. More than half (56 percent) are worried that noise levels in the office will make them less productive, with 42 percent even worried about being prone to “noise rage”, if their colleagues are too loud.
“For hybrid working to be a success, these issues must be tackled head on,” said Paul Clark, SVP EMEA Sales at Poly. “Companies need to continue to put their employees at the centre of all that they do and provide them with the tools they need to accomplish their jobs in this new environment.”