Remote work skeptics are forgetting their most valuable asset. Here’s why.

While there is a belief that three days a week in the office is the magic number, a number of large companies embrace it, it is a fundamentally flawed approach. Instead, leaders need to focus on how Hybrid work arrangements will meet the needs of the customers.

Columbia Business School Study A review of text analysis of S&P 500 companies’ earnings call transcripts shows that company executives talk about customers 10 times more often than employees—a number that has risen over the past 15 years. Additionally, when companies discuss employees, executives relate them to risk factors and customers. Growth opportunities.

Ironically, executives fail to implement this focus when they decide to return to the office and Hybrid work ethic. For example, A survey Only 28% of 1,300 knowledge workers said their company was making the office fit. No wonder: while there a Widespread recognition The magic number of three days a week in the office — adopted by a number of large companies — is a fundamentally flawed approach.

Instead, leaders need to focus on how Hybrid work arrangements will meet the needs of the customers. It may be that three, four, five, two, one or no days in the office work best for your clients. But the key to creating a successful hybrid work plan is prioritizing customer needs, and business leaders need to build their strategies around this focus.

as one A globally renowned expert As someone at Future of Work who helped 22 organizations create their hybrid and remote work policies, I can confidently tell you that this is the biggest mistake companies make in hybrid work. That is, they fail.”Start with why“And don’t work from the end goal back to the policies necessary to accomplish it for customer success.

Dispelling the myth of the three-day work week

The assumption that having employees in the office three days a week is the best solution for hybrid work is wrong. This one-size-fits-all approach fails to consider the unique needs of customers.

This A three-day work week emerged as a popular solution amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. As companies experiment with hybrid work models, these arrangements appear to strike a balance between the benefits of remote work and the need for in-person collaboration. However, the adoption of this model by numerous organizations has led to the misconception that it is universally applicable.

The effectiveness of the three-day work week varies significantly across industries and roles. For instance, in fields such as software development or creative services, a large amount of remote work may be possible without any loss of productivity or sacrifice of customer needs. On the other hand, industries or functions that rely heavily on in-person interactions, such as sales, may require a greater on-site presence to maintain the quality of customer service. A tailored hybrid work strategy takes into account these industry and role-specific considerations, ensuring that work arrangements align with the underlying demands of the sector.

Instead, leaders should embrace more Agile approachOne that prioritizes customer needs and embraces the ever-evolving business landscape.

Related: A new remote work trend is helping employers retain talent amid labor market pressures

Understanding your customers

The first step in formulating a customer-centric hybrid work plan is to gain a deep understanding of your customers’ expectations and preferences. This includes monitoring, managing customer feedback Market research And engage in open dialogue with your customers. By understanding their needs and preferences, you can tailor your hybrid work arrangement to better serve them.

For example, a company providing technical support services may find that their customers value prompt responses to their inquiries. In this case, adopting a hybrid work model that ensures adequate staffing during peak hours, regardless of employee location, will be critical to meeting customer needs.

Indeed, one of my clients that provides such services found that it was more helpful for employees to work remotely for most of the work week. That’s because most employees were more willing to work non-standard hours when they worked remotely. Thus, the company was better able to provide customer support over a longer period of time with faster response by shifting during non-standard working hours. still, Customer service Staff came into the office one day a week to ensure someone was available for the rare occasions when clients came to the office in person.

It’s not surprising, right? my own LinkedIn survey found that 80% of respondents worked more non-standard hours in remote work than in the office, as staff are willing to work longer hours and standard hours are shorter if they don’t have to waste time commuting to the office.

Aligning hybrid functionality with customer expectations

Once you identify your customers’ needs, you must align your hybrid work system accordingly. This may mean rethinking your assumptions about the best balance of remote and in-office work for different roles.

Consider a B2B professional services organization that has been around for a long time Face-to-face meetings and events to build relationships with customers. With the rise of remote work, many of their clients may now prefer virtual meetings, requiring a change in the sales team’s approach. In this case, a work work model that offers more flexibility in how and where employees work may better meet customer preferences.

That was the case for one of my clients, a law firm. Their leadership initially assumed that, as the pandemic subsided, their clients would want to go back to in-person meetings. But I strongly encouraged them to actually survey their customers instead of acting on their assumptions. And what the law firm discovered was that plenty of clients prefer video conference meetings for most interactions. That’s because it was faster, more convenient, and cheaper to set up than having an in-person meeting. Sure, in-person meetings were still king for more intense and nuanced discussions, but customers preferred most daily meetings to happen via video conference.

A customer-centric hybrid action plan should include mechanisms to measure success and adapt as needed. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your hybrid work model in meeting customer needs Customer satisfaction surveys, feedback sessions and other metrics. Use this data to make informed decisions about adjustments to your strategy.

For example, if customer feedback indicates that implementing your hybrid work model has increased response times, consider adjusting staffing levels or redistributing tasks to better serve your clients. Consider an example shared with me by the chief human resources officer of a rural healthcare system with several hospitals in a Midwestern state. While they have many workers on hybrid and fully remote modalities, they encountered problems with the case management department and the utilization review, who were working remotely. They had to bring him back to the office because they realized the importance of having hospitalists work alongside their patients. It was crucial to ensure proper discharge planning and smooth transition care, which they found not even remotely achievable. This is an example of how their hybrid work did not satisfy their patients and repositioned staff to prioritize patient needs.

Cognitive bias: A hidden barrier to customer-centered hybrid action plans

Cognitive biases, which are dangerous judgment errors that cause us to make bad decisions in everything from our work lives. Our relationship, often undermining effective hybrid work arrangements. One cognitive bias that can hinder the shift toward a customer-centered hybrid work plan is the status quo bias. This bias refers to the tendency to prefer the status quo over any changes, even if the potential benefits of change outweigh the risks. In the context of hybrid work, status quo bias may lead leaders to stick to traditional office work arrangements or adopt the popular three-day work week without considering whether these alternatives actually serve them well. Customer needs.

To overcome status quo bias, business leaders must critically evaluate their existing work systems, seek objective data and feedback to determine whether the current model effectively meets customer expectations. By doing so, they can make more informed decisions about the best hybrid work model for their organization.

other Cognitive bias What can hinder the development of client-centered hybrid work plans is confirmation bias. This bias refers to the tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms one’s pre-existing beliefs or assumptions. In the context of hybrid work, confirmation bias can lead leaders to focus only on evidence that supports their views about ideal work arrangements, while ignoring or discarding information that contradicts beliefs about what customers actually want.

To combat confirmation bias, business leaders must actively seek diverse perspectives and opinions, both inside and outside their organization. By engaging in open dialogue with employees, customers, and industry experts, leaders can gain a more balanced and comprehensive understanding of the factors that affect the success of hybrid operations. This enables them to design work models that prioritize the customer’s needs, rather than conforming to his pre-existing beliefs.

By recognizing and addressing the influence of cognitive biases in shaping hybrid task decisions, business leaders can develop more customer-centric strategies that truly meet the needs of their customers. This awareness is coupled with a commitment to continuous improvement and Transparent communicationPaving the way for a successful and adaptive work environment.

conclusion

The key to a successful hybrid work plan is prioritizing the customer’s needs above all else. By ditching the myth of the three-day work week and adopting a more agile approach, business leaders can create tailored strategies that truly meet the unique needs of their industries, teams, and customers.

Understanding your customers’ expectations and preferences, aligning hybrid work arrangements with those needs, and empowering your team to deliver exceptional service are critical steps in designing a customer-centric hybrid work plan. A commitment to continuous improvement through transparent communication and measuring success and adapting as needed strengthens your organization’s ability to navigate the complexities of hybrid work.

Ultimately, by keeping customer needs at the forefront of your hybrid work strategy, you can foster a thriving work environment that supports both employee satisfaction and customer success. By adopting this customer-centric approach, business leaders can ensure their organizations remain agile, adaptable and thriving in the ever-changing landscape of the modern workplace.