Why We Believe in a Hybrid Future

 Betsy Scherer

Why we believe in hybrid...

The last six+ months have been full of contemplation about the new normal, discovery conversations with early-stage tech leaders, and analysis about hybrid teams and communities. After putting in the research, we fully believe in a hybrid future. So much so, we even launched a new membership model based on this!

Are you asking yourself, what exactly we mean by hybrid? Think: a co-located team where some folks are working full-time in an office, some are working full-time at home, and some are mixing it up and alternating between home and office. 

T3 Advisors recently conducted a study with 90 tech companies and found that only 30% surveyed have announced a permanent shift towards remote work. That's right, you're hearing it correctly; 70% of tech companies surveyed are looking at temporarily remote teams until there's a vaccine or entering the hybrid space in the future. 

Venture Fizz surveyed tech team members and found that 24.3% would like to go hybrid now and another 41% are interested in going hybrid once there's a vaccine. 

Further, the Financial Times recently wrote about hybrid work as a company structure “where employees split their time between the office and home.” Not only that but they believe it's “likely to become the norm for many businesses as they emerge from the crisis.”

The benefits of going hybrid...

• Focus on intentionality. Going hybrid requires you to put thought and intention behind practices. Throughout this series, you'll hear us say over and over how important it is for you to create a guidebook for how your hybrid team will function and, more importantly, why. 
• The future is flexible. Creating flexibility is seen as a big win for potential candidates and your current team. Think of the parents on your team who have to deal with day care drop-off or team members who may need to relocate for familial reasons and don't need to automatically quit. Hello, increased employee retention! 
• Attract the best talent. Gone are the days when you can only pull from your cities candidate pool. You'll be able to guarantee you'll see the best folks out there by expanding your candidate pool, pay the local rates, and remove yourself from ongoing talent wars in metropolitan areas.
• Increased productivity. It's simple yet so effective: everyone on the team is able to choose what works best for them. 
• Increased focus on an equitable and open culture. Issues will come up, for specific team members or teams as a whole. The hybrid approach calls for leaders to ensure their team is being treated equitably and fairly by creating a culture with open, honest communication. 
• Focus on the people. Are you hiring new grads and interns? Or just expanding and adding a lot of new hires to your team? Hybrid setups help to make new members feel at ease, feel nurtured, and mentored. Even better, they're more likely to speak up and ask for help when there's a focus on strong team bonds.
• Leverage your agility. No one does agility like an early-stage startup - use that to your advantage. Hybrid helps you stay fluid, adapt to the changing landscape, listen to your team, and experiment with fresh ideas.

RELATED: How to Prevent 'Us Versus Them' Culture for Hybrid Teams

Interested in implementing a hybrid team? Learn more about Venture Lane's new membership offering and pricing.