The pros and cons of remote and hybrid working

You’ve already started to look at some of the reasons why remote or hybrid working can work well for an SME, but what are the considerations for an employee approaching that style of working?

In the short video here, Katy, a university graduate, talks about her experience of remote working in an SME over the last few years.

Advantages of remote/hybrid working

In the Office for National Statistics dataset focusing on home and hybrid working in Great Britain (2022), when asked ‘Which of the following advantages have you experienced since working from home compared to your usual place of work?’ the highest scoring responses were:

• Improved work-life balance (78%)
• Fewer distractions (53%)
• Quicker to complete work (52%)
• Improved wellbeing (47%).

There are clearly advantages relating to work-life balance and wellbeing. For example, swapping a long commute for the opportunity to switch off your computer and be at home straight away, can create extra time for your friends and family or hobbies and activities you’d like to be involved in. Also, being based at home can give you the flexibility to complete short personal tasks, manage health conditions and be available for deliveries!

The positive points relating to fewer distractions and the ability to complete work more quickly might depend on the contrast between your office and home environment. Some people might have a chaotic home environment full of distractions, which is where working from a library or co-working space might have advantages.

Working from home can also be a significant advantage for those with certain types of disability or neurodivergence, bringing the opportunity for a work life that might not previously have been achievable. This might also apply to those with caring responsibilities.

Challenges of remote/hybrid working

In the dataset quoted above, respondents were also asked to consider ‘Which of the following disadvantages have you experienced since working from home compared to your usual place of work?’ and the key responses this time were:

• Harder to work with others (48%)
• More distractions (26%)
• Reduced wellbeing (19%)
• Harder to think of new ideas (15%).

Encouragingly, 31% of respondents to this survey chose ‘no disadvantages’.

The main issue for many people working from home is the potential for isolation and a feeling of being disconnected from colleagues. This is probably reflected in the 48% response ‘harder to work with others’.

Reducing this sense of loneliness is partly your employer’s responsibility. There are many things that a manager can do to encourage regular interaction between team members and with themselves, from organising virtual social time to arranging face to face meetings every few weeks. Using a live chat tool so that colleagues can share informal comments as they work is another good way to encourage communication.

Working for an SME, you might find that they are particularly good at linking colleagues together remotely, as those connections are vital in a smaller workforce. However, if no one has the time to co-ordinate or consider how to maintain these connections, this might have been neglected. Perhaps that is a responsibility you could volunteer for – developing opportunities for online interactions outside of key meetings, or for staff to come together face to face.

You’ll explore some of things you can do to enhance your own remote or hybrid working experience in the next section.

Over to you

Think about what you have done in the past to avoid distractions when focusing on a particular task, perhaps while writing an essay or completing an application form, and share your top tips in the comments below.