Do you want to go back to the office? Meet the hybrid work model

May
3, 2021

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

By Sergio Porragas / Director of Operations (COO) of OCCMundial

In this new normal , companies must consider carrying out permanent changes for the health and safety of our people, prepare with the necessary tools, make adaptations in the offices, apply the new virtual collaboration modes and implement the work modality hybrid, that is office + home office , to be able to apply the healthy distance.

The above is already on the minds of Mexican workers, since in a survey we conducted at OCCMundial last December we revealed that 77% of professionals would like to work under a hybrid model , that is, with remote work days and days of face-to-face work in the office, if pandemic conditions allow it.

It should be noted that the hybrid work model can bring benefits to both companies and employees:

• Companies can save costs by having smaller offices or even not having them and renting a workspace ( coworking ) once or twice a week, in addition to guaranteeing the autonomy and flexibility conditions of their employees that translate into greater satisfaction and productivity .
• Workers can enjoy flexibility in their schedules, savings in transport costs and travel times, greater autonomy, balance their work and personal life and, in turn, maintain the physical bond with colleagues and superiors in person.

What is important to consider is whether, under this combined model, organizations are obliged to support their employees under the home office regulation, approved in December of last year by the Chamber of Deputies to endorse and regularize teleworking in Mexico and promulgated in January of this year. This legislation obliges companies to pay for electricity and internet to their collaborators, as long as the person works at least 40% of the time from home.

^{Workers can enjoy flexibility in their schedules / Image: Depositphotos.com}

Thus, companies will have to negotiate with collaborators and reach an agreement stipulated in the contract regarding the work scheme, above all, the percentage of activities that they will develop at home and those that must be carried out from the physical space of the organization. , so that the deal is a win-win for both parties.

It is essential that as companies we know the law very well, we work on the internal guidelines and adapt the budgets to the new obligations, such as providing the necessary inputs for the employee to perform their work in an optimal way, including what is proportional to the cost of electricity, internet and computer. In addition, we must consider that we must guarantee training for work under this and other work schemes, as well as the right of our employees to disconnect, seeking that they have a good work-life balance so that they can maintain a balance in physical health and emotional.

Today we are not sure when companies will be able to resume their operations as they did previously, what is a fact is that the world of work has changed and the experience of remote work will lead many organizations to adopt the teleworking scheme for some jobs and implement a hybrid model for many others.

^{* The author has been the Director of Operations (COO) of OCCMundial, the online Career Center, since 2015 and since then has driven the company’s annual growth of more than double digits, opening commercial offices in 13 states of the world. country and the penetration of the recruitment process in SMEs. Previously, he served as Commercial Director and CFO of the company and under his direction, OCCEducation was launched in 2011, a business unit that offers educational options at all levels and specialties. Previously, he held international positions within the finance area at Procter & Gamble for more than 12 years and also collaborated at Convermex. Graduated with honors, he has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a specialty in Finance from the Universidad Nuevo Mundo.}