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Hybrid Work Environment // How Businesses Can Best Implement It
24% of businesses are now operating on a hybrid basis. Hybrid working has become increasingly popular since the pandemic began, offering employees the ability to cut commuting costs and get that sought-after lie-in a couple of times a week.
Suppose your business is switching to a hybrid work model. In that case, you need to know how to implement hybrid working effectively – securing your business, ensuring employees can access the tools they need, and managing employee wellbeing. Keep reading to learn about the most effective strategies for implementing a hybrid work model.
Invest In Remote Management
With a hybrid work model, your team will be in and out of the office. They will need tools that facilitate remote office technology and security management. If you have a visitor, you should be able to permit entry for the visitor without visiting the office. Cloud-based security tools are the best way to facilitate remote office operations management.
Cloud-based security allows your team to use a mobile application to manage the following security processes:
- Locking and unlocking doors – your team can allow employees, interviewees, and visitors to enter the building remotely using a mobile application for more efficiency.
- Viewing security data – your team can view security data such as video camera feed and access logs remotely for more security visibility.
- Receiving alerts – a cloud-based security system will provide your system administrators with alerts and notifications based on security events to keep them up-to-date with security happenings.
- Initiating lockdowns – if your team is working remotely, you need to know that they can respond quickly to security threats. A cloud-based security system allows your system administrators to initiate lockdown procedures remotely in response to security threats and alerts.
- Setting permissions – your HR and administrative teams can quickly onboard and offboard new employees and adjust permissions for your security system remotely with a cloud-based system.
Remote management of security is a must-have for businesses implementing a hybrid work model, as it allows them to ensure their premises are secure at all times and manage security without visiting the office – which could impact productivity.
Converge Physical And Cyber Security
Since remote and hybrid work models require cloud-based technology to facilitate remote operations, it becomes essential for businesses to converge on cyber and physical security.
If you implement a cloud-based card access control system, you must use cybersecurity to protect your physical security installations. By merging physical and cybersecurity, you blur the lines between physical and cyber security threats. So, you should ensure your physical security and IT teams can take a collaborative approach to security by merging both teams.
Also Read // How the Growth of Gig Economy Spurs Demand for Co-working Space
By merging both teams, you can ensure the digital assets in your office space are secured with physical security solutions, and you can use cybersecurity software to protect your cloud-based physical security data. Both teams will be able to communicate and collaborate, creating an overarching security strategy better suited to face modern security threats.
Implement Wellbeing Initiatives
Hybrid work models make it more difficult for HR teams to gain insight into employee satisfaction and well-being. Since HR teams may be in the office on different days with specific team members, they may not be able to communicate in person.
The best way for HR teams to care for employee wellbeing and gain insight into employee satisfaction is to integrate wellness verification software with the office access control system. Wellness verification software provides employees with coronavirus screening surveys, which can help make employees feel comfortable using the office. However, since the surveys are customizable, your HR team can repurpose them to provide employees with surveys on mental health and job satisfaction.
When an employee needs to enter the building, the software will provide a survey they can fill out, answering questions regarding their job satisfaction and mental well-being. HR teams can use these surveys to gauge whether there is a need to improve the company culture, implement wellness seminars, or provide team-building retreats.
Keep Cybersecurity Top Of Mind
Since many of your employees will be accessing sensitive company data at home when working remotely, you need to provide your employees with training on best remote cybersecurity practices. In this training, you should cover how to set strong passwords and the importance of not reusing old passwords. You should also advise your employees to update their software regularly and provide tips for spotting phishing and malware scams. Human error is a significant contributing factor to data breaches, so training your employees on cybersecurity is imperative.
Summary
If you’re switching to a hybrid work model, you need to use tools that will help you stay in touch with office operations and employee well-being while working remotely. Consider any gaps and inconveniences in your existing hybrid work strategy and which of these tips, tools, and technologies would provide a solution.
