The three effective work norms for successful hybrid work models

Employees are 12% more likely to resign from organisations that do not construct explicit norms around hybrid work. 

Many hybrid work models today, said Gartner, lack the informal channels for employees to absorb the norms present in an on-site work setting due to the new hybrid work models that have shown up in recent years. 

Caitlin Duffy, Director in the Gartner HR practice, said, “As organisations create more formalised hybrid work models, HR leaders can reduce work friction and increase engagement by establishing and communicating new norms more intentionally and explicitly.”

According to a new report by Gartner titled 3 Types of Norms Every Hybrid Work Model Needs to Succeed, the most successful hybrid work models should encompass three main categories of explicit norms: Norms that increase visibility, enable flexibility, and foster connections.

Where visibility is concerned, transparency around work preferences provides an opportunity for employees to co-create team policies, such as when to focus and how to best communicate with one another. Scheduling visibility and shared work preferences, said Gartner, can improve employee performance, engagement, and inclusion in a hybrid work model.

READ: How employees can succeed in a hybrid workplace

To enable flexibility, organisations can create remote work days that give employees more autonomy over their work and personal lives to schedule activities and commitments while reducing the number of meetings. Gartner recommends three or more remote work days per week to make hybrid work successful.

Organisations can also foster connections among employees by facilitating periodic in-meetings and on-site work with managers and other mentors that allow a mutual and better understanding of goals and work preferences and deepen relationships, instead of mandatory on-site work.