Since the pandemic, we have seen a spike in the number of employees who have felt depressed and have been struggling with work-life balance. The problem is even more profound for those who were already facing mental health issues before COVID-19.
As per a recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO), “employees working from home may experience feelings of isolation and loneliness that can negatively impact their mental health.”
This can lead to serious consequences like decreased productivity and increased absenteeism, which will eventually impact your company’s bottom line.
In fact, many studies have shown that “disengaged employees are 63% more likely to take sick leave than engaged ones and are responsible for a 37% decrease in productivity.”
What’s the best way to improve employee engagement? Hybrid Model
How Hybrid Model Resolve Problems of Employee Engagement?
Before we begin, let’s define what employee engagement is: it’s the level of involvement and dedication an employee feels toward their organization and its goals. And it can be difficult to maintain in the best of circumstances, let alone when you’re facing a global pandemic that has forced most people to work from home.
The pandemic has forced us to be at home and we have realized the importance of physical engagement at the workplace. However, the hybrid work model is a new normal which will transition with the work culture, it creates a win-win situation for all.
A hybrid working model combines two different work environments: office/workplace and home. This means that employees have the option to work from either their workplace or home as per their convenience. This helps the employees to maintain a balance between professional and personal life without any pressure from the organization.
Hybrid Model saves cost involved in employee engagement, gives enough time to employees to actualize their ideas and getting to know more about their colleagues. Also, it helps employees in avoiding distractions at home and improving concentration level at workplace.
How HR Tech can be an additional advantage to improve employee engagement?
COVID-19 has forced companies to adopt hybrid work models, with employees working remotely and in offices. This model not only requires you to put in place new technology to facilitate collaboration, but also demands that you rethink the way you engage your employees.
If you want to ensure that your employees feel fulfilled and motivated, then keeping them engaged is key. Engagement is more important than ever before—the global pandemic has changed the way we all work, and the hybrid working model is here to stay.
While it may seem like an added expense, engaging employees is actually crucial to creating a team that feels valued and recognized by the company. HR Tech based tools like HRMS solutions, employee engagement software, HCM suites, etc. can be used for employee pulse surveys and creating discussion forums on various topics based on interest areas, thus engaging employees on a regular basis.
Additionally, HR tech based tools can offer moonboot’s to know organizational pulse, dashboards and metrics to know the engagement index, feed walls to connect employees in hybrid models, two way interactive communication channels, customized workflows to streamline and automate engagement activities and more.
Conclusion
The hybrid work model is being adopted by businesses of all sizes, across the globe. And while it has many obvious benefits—like increased employee productivity and reduced office costs—there are some less-obvious benefits as well that may be worth exploring like that of employee engagement.
Engaging your employees means keeping them connected with the mission of the company. It means making sure they feel valued in the workplace. And it means giving them tools to help them succeed at work and in their personal lives. Ultimately, engaging your employees is about ensuring they’re happy at work so they stay loyal to the company and contribute their best ideas and efforts on a daily basis.
In recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a need for a remote working environment, where employees work from home. In such a scenario, it becomes even more difficult to engage employees and keep them motivated. This requires an effective strategy to engage employees with minimum wastage of resources. Thus, companies are considering hybrid models as impacts are reduced.
