Can you believe it has been nearly two years since the UK was locked down due to COVID-19?
As a collective, we have been forced to welcome the hybrid working model into our lives with little choice since the pandemic started and, we have learnt some lessons along the way.
What is hybrid working?
Hybrid working is a type of flexible working where employees split their time between their place of work and working remotely. Many companies, including Girls in Marketing, have adopted this model since the world started to open up again. For example, in 2020 92% of people were expected to work from home at least once per week.
What lessons have we learnt from hybrid working?
Don’t be fooled by the people on LinkedIn, this change in the way of working has not been a smooth transition for everyone – and that is totally fine. Many of us have had to adapt to a new way of working and learn how to work efficiently in a combination of office and home settings.
Here are some of the things we’ve learnt and the benefits of hybrid working that we want to share with you.
Teams are happier and healthier
The increased flexibility that comes with a hybrid working model has been welcomed by our team, along with many marketers around the world.
Remote working has always had a huge place in the Girls in Marketing culture, as many of our team started Girls in Marketing working completely remotely. As restrictions lifted, we have transitioned to a hybrid working environment. This new way of working has completely boosted our team happiness, as we can now enjoy both working from home and having fun days in the office (the best of both worlds).
Increase in productivity
Although many people still associate working from home with a lack of productivity, this simply isn’t the case. According to ConnectSolutions, 77% of those who work remotely at least a few times per month showed increased productivity.
We have spoken to many marketers who have found that they are more productive at home than they are in the office, despite the productivity myth. This is down to fewer distractions and more comfortable working spaces at home (we didn’t spend that much money on a comfy office chair for nothing).
Slack takes the lead
If you are a marketer who is not aware of Slack, where have you been? It isn’t a day in the Girls in Marketing office without hearing the Slack notification sound from team members working remotely. In March 2020, Slack surpassed one billion usage minutes every weekday, according to SiliconAngle.
We owe our entire lives to Slack and the opportunity it gives to make our team more collaborative and make our hybrid working more effective.
Flexibility for employees
We have vocalised our love for hybrid working and the positive changes this new working model has brought into our lives, as both individuals and as a collective team.
However, we are aware of the issues that hybrid working has caused for some marketers. The risk of adopting an unhealthy work-life balance is increased with hybrid working. With a lack of division between home and workspace, you need to ensure that you set healthy boundaries to prevent the risk of burnout.
Digital marketers, you know exactly what it is like to have your entire life on your laptop. You are not alone, we would definitely be lost without our laptops too. Working from home does come with the risk of being tied to technology all day, but we’ve learnt how to avoid adopting unhealthy technological habits.
We attempt to keep our screen time to a minimum whilst in work mode. As you can imagine, working in the digital marketing space, this can often be challenging. Our team have notifications turned off after specific times and, when possible, we try to have lunch away from our desk to encourage a better work-life balance.
Hybrid working for the win.
As marketers, we are fortunate that the hybrid working model integrates well with our industry.
The Girls in Marketing team have adapted to a hybrid working environment and we can’t imagine ourselves moving to the traditional 9-5 office hours every day. For us, the benefits of having different work environments massively outweigh the disadvantages.
Hybrid working gives people more autonomy around their workload. For example, if you need to stay at home because your washing machine is broken and you’re waiting for an engineer, you can. Previously, the lack of support for hybrid working meant people felt they couldn’t do this.
Struggling to perfect your work-life balance? We share our best productivity and work-life balance top tips on our social media accounts. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to join our community and get involved with our community of amazing marketers.
