office cleaning

5 Tips To Improve Work Ethic In Hybrid Environment 2022

As the Great Return nears its end and the last few organisations make the switch from a 100% remote to a hybrid work schedule, many employees are eagerly anticipating the chance to reconnect with their coworkers after a period of two years spent apart. The return to the workplace does not guarantee a return to productive teamwork, though.

More than two years into our national experiment with working from home, one of the most common justifications for returning to the office is about teamwork, says Alison Green, founder of the work advice website Ask a Manager, for Slate. "The difficulty is... at times it isn't occurring that way," the speaker said.

According to Green, many individuals who have gone back to work are the only ones there or are choosing to work in isolation, preferring to communicate with one another through email and online platforms like Slack and Zoom.

Teamwork may seem like a thing of the past, but it need not be a relic of the workplace pre-COVID. Leaders in the hybrid model of the workplace may promote cooperation by taking the initiative to do so. What follows are five suggestions on where to begin, such as office cleaning, company culture, etc.

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1. Continue to Emphasize Office Cleaning And Safety

While it may seem that the worst of the COVID-19 issue has passed, company owners and managers should be aware that workers' fears persist when they return to work, even if just part-time. Approximately half of those polled by Upcity were concerned about returning to a coworking environment. Fifty-four percent of those surveyed indicated they would still be just as anxious even if their employers required vaccinations.

Making the workplace more secure will encourage workers to spend more time in the office and encourage those who are there to feel at ease interacting with one other.

Following the pandemic, companies across all key sectors have implemented the following cleaning and sanitation procedures, as reported by SERVPRO, the commercial cleaning professionals.

  • Increasing cleaning expenditures are being made by 83% of businesses.
  • 51% have increased the number of hand sanitizers or locations where they may be found, and 64% clean many times per day.
  • As long as COVID-19 is there, 46% of people said they would do extensive cleaning.
  • Third-fourths of these establishments also use a janitorial service, and of those, 34% utilise a cleaning service that has been authorised by the CDC.
  • Just 28% make use of strategies and remedies recommended by the CDC.
  • Only 12% use the usage of a dedicated UV light sanitizer.

You should think about establishing some kind of cleaning and sanitation protocol for your hybrid workplace. These measures not only help combat the spread of COVID-19 and its variation, but also the flu, the common cold, and other infectious illnesses, which in turn helps combat another hindrance to teamwork: sick days.

office cleaning

2. Give Your Company Culture a Makeover

By adopting hybrid work arrangements, you've taken significant steps toward improving employee morale and productivity by giving them more control over their schedules and hours. The new hybrid work paradigm, on the other extreme, has harmed the company's culture, which is essential for fostering teamwork.

So what is it? In the wake of the global epidemic, business leaders need to imagine a future for their company's culture that incorporates values and practises that will enhance morale and create connection even as workers split their time between remote and hybrid work.

Look objectively at the culture of your firm right now and figure out what has to be done to revitalize it. Experts in effective communication at 4PSA have some suggestions for enhancing company culture:

  • Get creative with your next get-together. Make sure only the most important people attend by inviting them to the meeting. It's important to provide your staff uninterrupted time to work, so plan out periods when no meetings are scheduled. If you're looking for ways to improve the effectiveness of your meetings, consider soliciting input from your staff.
  • Do more to provide authority to management. Managers are more likely to take their direct reports' proposals seriously when they are given the freedom to implement their own creative ideas and those of their employees. The effect will be a more invested team as a whole.
  • Establish routinely scheduled time off. Help employees feel more appreciated and less burned out by monitoring their break times.
  • Apologize for not doing enough to recognize your team's efforts. Always remember to thank your coworkers for everything they do for you. A simple expression of gratitude may go a long way.

3. Make Your Meetings Hybrid-Friendly

An effective meeting is the bedrock of every effective partnership. However, it might be difficult to make meetings welcoming to both in-office and remote personnel. Follow these guidelines to make your meetings suitable for hybrid participation:

  • Provide a phone number to call in or a web link to a video conference for every meeting.
  • Invest in productive hybrid meeting technologies. The use of a 360-degree camera, for instance, can guarantee that everyone in the room can be seen well.
  • Schedule team meetings on days when most people can attend.
  • Send out an agenda through email in advance to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
  • It's a good idea to solicit the opinions of the more reserved guests, both at the workplace and at home.
  • So that those working from home don't feel left out, make sure people in the office always use their cameras.
  • All attendees, including those who were unable to attend, should be provided with meeting summaries that include next actions.
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4. The Right Digital Technology

Even if your organisation was able to run well with spreadsheets before the epidemic, you'll find that such tools are crucial in the modern hybrid office.

According to UCToday, "Hybrid working solutions must allow collaboration in a location- and device-agnostic way," so that workers everywhere have the same collaborative experience and work processes remain constant regardless of where workers are physically located.

Some crucial digital resources to provide your staff are:

  • Service for storing and sharing files in the cloud; one example is Dropbox
  • Such as the Microsoft Teams or Slack platform for team communication.
  • Software for organizing projects and tasks; examples include Trello, Asana, and monday.com
  • CRM software hosted on the cloud, such as Zoho or Hubspot
  • Programs like Bubbl.us (for thought mapping) and Miro (for audio/video conferencing) are examples of collaborative brainstorming (great for online sticky notes)
  • Software to manage human resources, such as BambooHR, for the express purpose of enhancing company culture

Even for smaller teams, many of today's hybrid workplace management technologies provide a wealth of features at a reasonable price.

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5. Implement Team Building

When working in a hybrid environment, employees spend more time apart, therefore it requires more work to foster a sense of camaraderie among them. Team members may get to know each other better and work together more effectively if team-building exercises are included into regular meetings. Retreats may be as short as an hour or as long as a day, and activities can vary from large team building exercises to tiny icebreaker games. Plan these events during times when everyone on the team can be present, or make accommodations so that remote workers may participate.

Some suggestions for entertaining one another at work may be:

  • The Trivia Game
  • Business Jeopardy with Two Truths and a Lie as a Scenario
  • Game of "Where's the Next"
  • The Learning Team's Lunchtime Presentation and Potluck