Hybrid Work Requires Less Coordination, More Collaboration

• A significant amount of time is wasted in the hybrid workplace as employees struggle to effectively collaborate due to the lack of visibility into who’s in the office, workspace availability, and event scheduling, resulting in a drain on productivity.
• Many employees are resistant to a return to the office, with statistics showing dissatisfaction due to the perceived cost and effort of going to the office, especially among younger generations like millennials and Gen Z, who prioritize work-life balance, flexibility, and a collaborative work environment.
• Organizations can alleviate the coordination tax by leveraging smart building infrastructure and workplace experience applications, which automate tasks and provide essential data for optimal workspace design, ultimately enabling a more productive and collaborative workplace.

This article was written by Stefan Schwab, CEO of Enlighted.

The “coordination tax” is an emerging buzz phrase that perfectly captures the inordinate amount of time people spend trying to collaborate effectively in the hybrid workplace — the part office, part work-from-home arrangement that is the norm at more than half of companies today, according to EY’s Future Workplace Index. 

As employees struggle to answer basic questions — Who’s in the office, and when? Which building are they in? What floor? What desk? Which conference rooms are available? What events are happening and when? — they waste precious hours of productivity.

The good news is, it’s possible to greatly reduce, if not repeal, the coordination tax through smart building technology and apps that make the hybrid workplace more manageable, without adding more administrative tasks into the workday.

Let’s look at why employees are frustrated with the hybrid workplace and technologies that can help organizations improve the productivity of office days.

Return to office temperature check

It’s no secret that, having been conditioned to the convenience of remote work during the pandemic, many employees are unhappy about a return to the office (RTO). Research published earlier this year in Harvard Business Review quantifies their ennui — 60% of employees say the cost of going to the office outweighs the benefits and 67% feel that going to the office requires more effort than it did pre-pandemic. Finally, 48% feel RTO mandates prioritize what leaders want over what employees need to do their work.

Some employees’ misgivings don’t appear to be temporary or superficial, especially with younger employees. Research by Gartner found that 71% of millennial workers say the pandemic made them “rethink the place that work should have in their lives.” 

Furthermore, with Gen Z workers on track to outnumber Boomers, their values and requirements will increasingly shape the workplace. Among other things, Gen Z values work-life balance, flexibility, mental health, and a collaborative and creative work environment — all of which can be a challenge for them to realize when burdened with the coordination tax that must be paid in the hybrid workplace.

At Enlighted, we are using a hybrid work model as I believe that some in-office time is paramount to a high-performing workforce. I’ve seen first-hand that time in-office greatly increases opportunities for more impactful collaboration and productivity — but the administrative burden of maximizing in-office days is still weighing on employees and can detract from these benefits.

Alleviating the coordination tax

In response to generalized pushback on RTO and hybrid work, I’ve seen many organizations try to ease employees’ dissatisfaction by luring them back with in-office events and over-the-top perks — everything from parking lot pickleball and an indoor slide to free haircuts. In my experience, these offerings aren’t top of mind when my teams consider which day to come into the office.

Instead, technology like smart building infrastructure and workplace experience applications offer a way for companies to address the root causes of the coordination tax like a lack of visibility into where and when colleagues are in the office, the availability of amounts and types of workspaces and any events happening during the workweek. Workplace experience apps automate all of these tasks and remove the mental load of determining which day is best to come into the office.

Smart building solutions leverage Internet of Things (IoT) data gathered from lighting control sensors, desk and room sensors, people-counting and other types of sensors, with the sensor wireless network collecting a broad set of data on activity, movement, temperature, and energy use. This data on how spaces are used and by how many people are fed into these workplace experience apps — while also empowering employers to ensure that workspaces are optimally designed to align with where and how employees want to work.

With its latest workplace study, design firm Gensler gathered proof that “high-performing workplaces” have spaces that align with work and collaboration preferences, while also evoking a sense of beauty and inspiration. 

As companies lean into hybrid work, it’s the optimal time to evaluate whether the physical workspace itself is empowering employees to do their best work independently and with colleagues. The data collected by smart building technology and apps will help inform these decisions.

The coordination tax doesn’t have to be a certainty

Hybrid work is here to stay. It’s time to pull out all the stops in making today’s workplaces both productive and collaborative. By implementing smart building technology, adopting workplace experience apps and turning an eye to workplace design, organizations can show employees they are removing barriers for them to do their best work.