Re-energising your workforce in a hybrid working environment

We were thrilled to welcome Alison Minns, HSBC’s Head of Culture as our guest speaker at a recent breakfast event for charity sector People and HR leaders.

Alison is a culture change specialist, with almost 20 years’ experience in this field. She brings both in-house and consultancy experience leading and delivering complex culture change programmes.

Alison’s discussion focused on employee engagement and change management techniques, particularly in relation to re-energising your workforce in a hybrid working environment.

The key points covered were:

• Hybrid working is a journey and there isn’t a one size fits all solution. Whilst recognising that some of the challenges facing HSBC, with 235,000 employees in 60 countries, will be specific to HSBC, there are lessons learned which could be applied in other environments.
  • Link your hybrid working strategy to your organisation’s mission.
  • When thinking about the future of work and your people priorities, make sure decisions are evidence led. Use data to figure out the right hybrid work strategy for your organisation.
  • Define what YOU mean by hybrid. If you are not clear with your employees on the specifics, you might end up with lots of people making up their own version.
  • Understand the different communities and how they work to appreciate the needs of the different groups in your organisation. Don’t be afraid to set the hybrid working practices at a team level.
  • Put in place resources and tools to equip managers. Think about providing leaders with Activation Toolkits which include tips and guidance on how to work with and manage a hybrid workforce.
• Consider issuing a Team Charter, empowering teams to discuss and decide how they want to work together. Giving people a sense of autonomy and a feeling that they have some control over a situation is a basic human need and can be very powerful. It is worth noting that you can always re-contract. If something isn’t working, discuss why, re-evaluate the situation and tweak how you do things.

The discussion then moved on to the tools available for measuring culture. According to Alison, engagement surveys are a good starting point and still have a place in today’s world to give you the metrics that you need. However, it is important to think about the art and not just the science when measuring culture. How does it feel to work here? Ask employees about how common behaviours impact them, what they observe around them and encourage them to share their personal stories and experiences so you can understand culture on a deeper level. Building a successful hybrid workplace requires an understanding of what employees value most about it.

• Sentiment – how people feel
• Observed Behaviour – predominantly through a survey which is linked to the core values
• Business Outcomes – linked to strategy

The focus should be on outcomes and a hybrid workplace demands it.

For more information, please contact Sandra Hamovic, Associate Partner in our Not for Profit Practice.