Employee Retention in a Hybrid Working Environment: What Can Companies Do?

Stay or go? Whether and when employees ask themselves this question is no longer an easy question for organizations to answer as jobs become hybrid, flexible, or even remote, and face-to-face contact decreases. With the increasing variability of employment, the issue of employee retention is also becoming more complex.

Why it is worth looking at and what measures can help?

Let’s start with some simple figures. According to Gallup, low employee retention costs around 11% of global GDP, making it a global challenge. The same study shows that only 16% of European employees feel a strong emotional attachment to their employer. The rest, as they say, are on the move, leaving at the first opportunity. “Quiet Quitting” or “Great Resignation” are the headlines we read about this. What’s behind them?

Individual flexibility is still desirable

The pandemic left its mark. Lockdown sent employees home to their offices. This took a lot out of everyone. Instead of seeing each other daily in the office, video calls became the norm. You got to know your colleagues’ kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms (and pets!), depending on where they had set up their home offices. Despite this distance and loneliness still abounded.

Everyone worked for themselves. Employees dealt with the new situation, which definitely had some important advantages. Working from home gave families with children and dependents more flexibility. Doing a quick load of laundry on the side? No one will notice. Help the children with their homework? Caring for animal companions? It’s much easier if you’re sitting next door working on your computer.

By the end of the pandemic, it was clear that people would not be able to return to the office full-time. Employees at Apple and Amazon started petitions against being forced to return to the office, whether full-time or just daily. In Germany, only 13% of employees wanted to return to the office in 2022. Around a third of employees would even give up their job if forced to return to a permanent on-site position in the company.

Leadership in the hybrid environment is a challenge

“People come into companies, and they go out of companies” is a much-quoted phrase attributed to corporate leadership thought leader Reinhard K. Sprenger. Indeed, managing employees remotely and in hybrid work environments is a challenge for which many managers are ill-prepared, partly because many leadership development programs still focus on the traditional workplace and organization.

There is a lack of the professional and communication skills needed to build the same level of trust in the virtual space as in the face-to-face area, to show and express appreciation, to organize work, and to monitor or control performance in a way that is present but not perceived as unfavorable. According to a recent study, the ability to give and receive trust, empathetic, and appreciative leadership is essential. Motivating employees, giving them security, and at the same time encouraging their creativity to remain innovative as a company takes more time and persuasion from a distance.

It is also particularly challenging to build strong teams when you are not looking at everyone simultaneously. If you want to show empathy in a hybrid environment and maintain the professional distance to establish a leadership presence, you also need to master technology. There is a difference between seeing each other in person and exchanging a few words in passing. In the virtual office, you don’t just bump into each other in the corridor. Managers increasingly need to become digitally competent change and development facilitators for their employees.

Do managers have the skills to do this in an environment characterized by disruption and change? Only a minority of employees worldwide (23%) are convinced that they do, but since we know that good leadership is a decisive factor in employee retention for up to 98% of employees, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Strengthening the emotional bond

For very few people, a job is merely just a job. Many people spend more time with their colleagues than with anyone outside their family. Social contacts and even friendships often develop that go far beyond the daily work routine, even more so if sports and other leisure activities are also in the mix. The company thus has the potential to be a social place where people may feel a sense of belonging. This is all the more possible if the working environment is good, the atmosphere with colleagues is pleasant and enjoyable, and you can identify with your team.

For most employees, it is also a place that stands above all for personal development, confirmation of one’s performance, and the possibility of professional advancement. This needs to be equal for hybrid, remote, and on-site working alike. When people feel connected to their employers and teams, they are less likely to change jobs.

Employee Retention in a hybrid work environment: best practice tips

The future belongs to hybrid work – a lasting consequence of the pandemic, but also technological progress and digital transformation. As office work becomes more flexible, so does the need for flexible workplaces. This challenges organizations at all levels: The organization needs to adapt to flexible working hours and locations and adapt its culture accordingly; HR needs to provide opportunities that are equally accessible to all; managers need the skills to manage remotely; and, of course, appropriate IT tooling.  

Your role is to provide the technical support required to work, learn, and communicate in the hybrid workplace without media disruption, without interruption, and securely. These practical tips can help: 

• Ensure a good working environment. This means that hybrid workers must feel involved in all activities and not feel disadvantaged. Appropriate information is not a debt to be collected but must be equally accessible to all. Transparency, information, and an open approach to critical issues also contribute to an excellent working atmosphere. 
• Adapt the organization. For remote team meetings as well as for in-person or on-site meetings in the office, it must be possible to book and make available a workstation or a room quickly and easily. Virtual meeting rooms and powerful videoconferencing technology should also be available both in the office and remotely for use at any time. 
• Make it easier to balance work and personal life. This can include flexible working hours (also necessary in a home office!) but also rules such as not having meetings before 8 am or after 5 pm and being able to attend meetings while on the road. In international teams with significant time differences, everyone must make compromises. Acquiring the necessary language skills in a foreign language is also easy to combine with your private life if you can learn conveniently online and, on the move, as is possible with the Speexx digital language learning platform. 
• Employee development and learning. Careers and participation in development programs should be independent of how much time is spent in the office. Organizations need to enable digital coaching for all. This can be done virtually, as the all-in-one platform from Speexx . It’s also vital to ensure that all digital learning can be used on the move. 
• Compensation. Ultimately, it comes down to investment and budget for employee salaries. Anyone who performs their required role and fulfills a challenging task wants to be rewarded appropriately – whether they are in the office or working from multiple remote locations. This is true even in times when we are not suffering from high inflation rates. For many employees, competitive compensation is one of the most important reasons to stay with the company – or leave for pastures new.