While the mass migration to remote working came from necessity due to the pandemic, workers have quickly learned to enjoy the benefits of this arrangement. Now, having the flexibility to choose where you work is seen as a job requirement, rather than a perk.

However, this experiment has also highlighted some downsides to working from home, such as feelings of isolation, less engagement and even more stress due to a lack of resources.

So where does that leave companies looking to accommodate the varying needs of their employees?

Regardless of when a company decides to bring their employees back in, it is clear that a fully in-person workforce is far fetched during a pandemic. That is where hybrid working comes in.

The hybrid model combines both in-person and remote working arrangements so employees can enjoy the benefits of working at home and coming into the office parts of the week.

Still, there may be challenges that present itself with this model. For instance, nurturing workplace culture can be difficult to do without in-person collaboration.

Additionally, communication is hard to maintain when some employees are coming together, while others operate remotely.

Cybersecurity also poses a big risk for remote workers. Without the proper tools and training in place, employees working from home are more vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks.

Despite all of the potential cons to this work model, it is still worth noting that hybrid workforces are the most logical way to bring employees back into the office safely and allow employees to maintain the flexibility they’ve had over the last several months.