A hybrid office is an attractive office model for many companies and employees, especially after over a year of working solely from home. However, it is by no means a perfect fix, and comes with its obstacles that need to be conquered. One of the impacts of a hybrid office that needs to be considered is how it might affect the process and effectiveness of employee training.
What is a hybrid office model?
Put simply, a hybrid office model involves a combination of both working inside an office and at home. This gives businesses flexibility to allow some employees to operate remotely and some from the office, or employ a more blended approach, for example, where employees can come into the office a couple of times a week.
Though the hybrid office model has its benefits, especially in the COVID-19 era, having employees who do not all work in the same place, or even the same country for that matter, can come with its challenges. One of the challenges that arises with a hybrid office is the prospect of training. Therefore, here are 6 ideas for effective employee training when you have a hybrid office model.
1. Invest in a conferencing and webinar platform
The first thing to consider is how to make the employee training accessible to everyone that you wish to participate. To do so effectively, look for a conferencing and webinar platform that can be accessed or led remotely, and can be simultaneously cast onto a screen in a conference room for your in-office employees.
Solutions like ON24 have features such as 1:1 speaker chat, peer-to-peer networking, group chat, buddy lists, ask an expert, gamification, leader boards, and role-based access, allowing you to host an engaging personalised training event online without compromise.
2. Construct an effective schedule
Secondly, make sure to have a detailed, consistent, and transparent schedule for your employee training. This schedule should be shared in advance so that employees in the office and at home can clear their schedules and know when to attend.
3. Make a checklist
Before starting any training, check in with your employees to see how they feel, and make a checklist of what you want to cover accordingly.
4. Start with introductions
As 35.9% of employed people in the UK did some work from home in 2020, it is likely that some of your workforce might not have met any of their co-workers before, especially if they work from home full time. Therefore, start by introducing yourself and the onsite team to the remote workers, and vice versa.
5. Engage everyone in the training
No-one liked that one teacher at school who made you fall asleep! Make sure to make the training engaging and fun.
6. Take extra time to answer questions
And finally, remember that everyone in your hybrid workforce might have a completely different working experience, and so your training cannot cover every possibility. Due to this, there may be some questions at the end of the training session which need to be addressed. Therefore, make sure to plan extra time at the end to answer any questions your employees might have.
And there you have it – 6 tips to assist you in providing effective employee training when you have a hybrid office model.
I always make a check list whenever I make a training for my employees
This ideas for effective employee training when you have a hybrid office model are excellent. I will probably need to hire people to work in a hybrid office model, so this post will be really helpful to me. Thanks!