When assessing your workplace strategy and figuring out how your company works best, you may discover that there are more work modalities than you realize. What specifically do you expect when you inform your employees that they will be working hybrid? Because hybrid working can mean different things to different people, it is vital that firms define their default practices so there is companywide alignment. There are many hybrid and remote work models; it is critical to understand what you are proposing.

This article outlines the major work modalities and the subcategories that fall under them:

4 Major Work Modalities

1. Office first

2. Office centric hybrid

3. Remote centric hybrid

4. Remote first

OFFICE FIRST

Office first companies are organizations that offer extremely limited work from home options. Most if not all the workforce is in the office full-time with a few exceptions. Office is still at the center of the company.

• No remote – all employees must be in-office full time with limited exceptions.
• Remote time – working from home is allowed but it is not normal with most employees working in the office full-time.
• Remote expectations – most of the company works in the office but some employees can work remotely indefinitely due to their role or location.

OFFICE CENTRIC HYBRID

Companies that provide office centric hybrid options encourage their employees to come into the office most of the time, but there is more freedom in remote working than in office first models. They believe that employees can complete tasks effectively at home, but employees should come into the office to collaborate with colleagues and connect with the firm.

• Office hybrid- companies require their employees to come into the office most of the time, but they build in one or two days each week when employees are allowed to work from another location.
• Remote days- companies may allow remote days where the entire company (executives included) works remotely at the same time

REMOTE CENTRIC HYBRID

Companies that offer remote centric hybrid models offer heightened flexibility when it comes to working remotely. Most of the office can easily do their work remotely and are not too concerned with being in the office more than 1-2 days a week.

• Remote allowed- remote work is allowed for everyone and it is normal for employees to work remotely 3-4 days a week.
• Remote friendly hybrid- 100% remote work is available to all employees except for those who are employed to physically service a building or must work with equipment that cannot be transported.

REMOTE FIRST

Most employees in remote-first arrangements work remotely by default, either from their homes or abroad. There is a significant conceptual difference between being remote-first and being remote-centric hybrid. It’s the distinction between motivating people to work remotely and simply allowing them to do so.

• Remote- when an office is remote optimized, but some people can still come into the office occasionally to collaborate.
• Remote Only- a remote-only organization has no physical office, and all work is done remotely. However, there
• All Remote- organizations that do not keep offices and work globally across many time zones.

Figuring Out Which Work Style Is Best For You

In an era of continued workplace evolution, it is imperative to preserve the single most important asset to your business: your people. With the rise of so many different work modalities, it can be challenging to figure out which model is best for your business. When designing a workplace, many elements must be considered, such as what is best for the firm. How do your staff work best? What do employees desire? What does leadership prefer? There are a lot of questions and only a few resources to help you answer them.

As a result, AURA created Pivvot. Combined with expert consultation, it ends assumptions with unbiased, data-driven and people-powered calculations. Pivvot is an analytics tool that supports leadership alignment and helps continual scenario planning. As an AI platform using machine learning, Pivvot helps predict the future of how people will work based on an in-depth assessment. Workstyle Personas are then created informing three dashboards that help influence work style, space allocation, and economic decisions – giving your company the data you need to augment your workspace. Furthermore, Pivvot helps businesses test varying scenarios and stay future-ready for the needs of tomorrow. Overall, this platform is ideal for any company who is not quite sure how much space they need, it helps companies understand spaces that work for their employees so you can figure out which work style is the best fit for you.

For more information and to book a consultation to discover how Pivvot could help your business, Contact Us.

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