Companies are struggling with hybrid work plans – awkward meetings and crowds between weeks

Prudential Financial Insurer Inc.,

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which expects the majority of the approximately 42,000 employees to work in the office half the time after Labor Day, wants to ensure that not all employees choose to stay home on Mondays and Fridays and then work in the office during the week. At the travel company Expedia Group Inc.,

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the directors try to figure out how to have meetings in person, which does not disadvantage those who are not in the room. Other employers, including the software company Twilio Inc.,

predicts that the new era of work could lead to mixing between teams, with employees gravitating towards bosses embracing their favorite styles of work.

Hybrid work “will redefine expectations, rules, permissions,” says Kevin McCarty, executive director of Chicago-based consulting firm West Monroe, which has 1,360 employees and is rethinking when its employees should work from home or work in offices.

The new style of work is bound to be another transition for workers who a year ago had to adapt to home life. Although managers say it would be easier to manage if every employee returned to an office or stayed away, surveys have repeatedly shown that most workers want a mixed approach, as more adults are vaccinated. In a February survey of 1,000 companies commissioned by LaSalle Network, a national recruitment and personnel firm, most companies said they would adopt a hybrid model.

Companies also surveyed their organizations to find out how employees feel. The Prudential,

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most employees indicated that they enjoyed working remotely, but missed the planning, idea, and collaboration that takes place personally, says Rob Falzon, the company’s vice president.

Prudentially redesigned its floor-to-floor office space and redistributed most of it for meeting rooms, collaboration and open space so that people are more likely to interact. Falzon says he insisted on adding video capacity to more small meeting spaces, not just conference rooms, so people working from home won’t feel excluded.

Like many employers, the company reduces its physical footprint, so there will be no offices available for people who want to go to the office more often, except for some employees, including traders. “We don’t have an office for you every day,” says Mr. Falzon. “We have an office for you three days a week.”

The range of hybrid models by companies. Adobe technology company Inc.

intends to allow employees to work from home up to two to three days a week, with staff able to make reservations for office desks, says Gloria Chen, the company’s chief executive. Other companies are reluctant to issue a specific number on days allowed at home. Factors that include shuttle duration, type of job, and seniority of an employee could determine how often an employee has to visit an office, executives say.

“We will not prescribe” at the company level, says David Henshall, CEO of technology company Citrix Systems Inc.

“Based on the type of role you have, you will find the right balance.”

With flexibility come challenges. If a team meets in person, but not everyone can do it, it potentially creates an inferior experience for those who are not in the room, says Expedia CEO Peter Kern. The travel company has opened the first phases of an expansive campus – complete with Wi-Fi-equipped rocks – on the shores of Seattle’s Elliott Bay before the pandemic and plans to initially allow remote group team meetings at its headquarters.

However, Mr. Kern says he has questions about whether those in Zoom will receive the same level of learning, encouragement and career growth as those in the gym. Then there are the programming issues.

Managers may need to “organize group meetings according to a crazy algorithm of: Who is available when? Who has a flexible day, when? “Mr. Kern says. “There is a lot of friction in all this. It’s much easier to say, “Everyone goes to work.” Now someone is calling for a date and you are all there. ”

A new way of working will require the company to think differently about performance, says Mr Kern. Managers need to be careful not to have biased judgments against those who might spend less time in the office, asking the company to “really pay attention to how we evaluate people and give people opportunities so that we don’t end up with poor results. ”.

Training and integration could be more challenging in a hybrid environment, especially if new employees find it harder to understand the company’s culture without regular, in-person interactions with colleagues, says Tom Gimbel, CEO of LaSalle Network. With younger employees, “for them to learn anything, they have to be around more experienced people,” he says.

Other companies have said they will allow remote work in limited circumstances. In a note, New York Times executives Co.

said the company plans to reopen its main offices in September and does not intend to be completely removed. The company would “approve remote work only in places where the team and the nature of the work can accommodate it.”

Some HR professionals say companies will have no choice but to meet the demands of workers, as an inflexible job could lay off employees as the economy recovers, and because many workers have been able to work anywhere.

“Previously, the employer could say, ‘This is our culture,'” says Tara Wolckenhauer, a human resources executive at the payroll processor. Inc.

“Employers need to take a step back and think about it very differently.”

—Krithika Varagur contributed to this article.

Write to Emily Glazer at [email protected] and Chip Cutter at [email protected]