If there is one thing that everyone agrees on, it’s that the new normal will be the golden era of “hybrid working”: a combination of remote and office-based work that can meet varied needs from both employees and employers.

However, that’s where the agreement ends. Companies are asking: what do we need to do to make hybrid working work? What’s more important – equipment or policy? And will our company culture allow it?

Hybrid working is not a transition back to pre-COVID norms. It’s a new opportunity that can help organisations leverage the best of both worlds.

What we’ve found is that hybrid working is different from either remote working or “normal” office life, in terms of technology, collaboration, human capability and workspace. But with some careful planning, smart use of technology and the adoption of effective collaboration solutions, the hybrid working model may truly represent a new and improved future of work. Here are five things to consider.

1. Employees need tools that are purpose-built for hybrid working. When the crisis first hit, organisations scrambled to provide remote working technologies using whatever tools were available at the time, often with jury-rigged solutions that originally assumed to be temporary. Effective long-term hybrid working will require purpose-built, ultra-portable devices that allow employees to work anywhere. Features such as smart stand-by and long battery power will become much more important, because these features allow easy transitions between home, office, and everywhere in between.

In particular, hybrid working means more multitasking. A PC alone has limited multitasking capability, so it will be important to free up its resources for uninterrupted productive work, while personal assistant devices such as Lenovo’s ThinkSmart View handle collaborative and administrative aspects.

2. Office environments play a key role in creating connections with the dispersed workforce: Having an office space that is optimised for a hybrid working model is important to facilitate a dispersed workforce. When colleagues in an office huddle room can quickly and securely dial in a remote teammate, silo thinking is reduced. Devices such as the ThinkSmart Hub facilitate this kind of safe, collaborative environment.

Effective long-term hybrid working will require purpose-built, ultra-portable devices that allow employees to work anywhere.

3. Up-front planning is worth the extra effort: The dynamic pandemic situation, coupled with having a fleet of devices connected within and outside of your network using various applications and devices, have made IT environments a lot more complex. It can save headaches later on to engage an external IT service provider at an early stage. The right partner can help deploy devices, configure workspaces, and design a centralised IT management system. This frees up internal resources to focus on more strategic matters.

4. Ad hoc, personal communication is just as important as official communication: When teams don’t meet in person, many organisations have turned to official “town hall” meetings or mass emails to keep colleagues informed.

However, close integration of teams happens just as much through informal, ad hoc discussions as through official channels. Is your office set up to ensure these can happen on the fly? Both working practices and technology need to be carefully arranged to meet this need.

5. Hybrid working is most effective when corporate policy is updated to match the reality: Hybrid teams are different from fully remote teams and require different policies. It is important to establish IT and HR policies that make it clear how and where employees are allowed to work and which digital tools and equipment will be provided, as well as working hours, ground rules, and expectations. Employees will more easily thrive in a hybrid working environment when they have access to training resources on how to use new tools, and when cybersecurity hygiene is properly implemented.

The new normal will be the golden era of “hybrid working”: a combination of remote and office-based work that can meet varied needs from both employees and employers.

Hybrid working is not a transition back to pre-COVID norms. It’s a new opportunity that can help organisations leverage the best of both worlds. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and some restructuring may be necessary, finding the right balance can help maximise productivity, employee satisfaction, and corporate success.

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In the past few months, COVID-19 has remoulded our lives significantly. There’s been a rise in the number of businesses who have turned homes into offices and Zoom into daily conference rooms. Australians who have had a taste of working from home are keen to maintain this flexibility.

Yet what COVID-19 attests is not only businesses’ short-term responsiveness in the narrow context of an obligatory lockdown nationwide. Ascender’s recent research shows over half (54 per cent) of Aussies are keen to continue working from home, with one in three (37 per cent) willing to give up a small portion of their pay to do so. In the post-COVID era, such a mentality will intensify and manifest in the pursuit of other flexible work arrangements, such as flexible pay, job-sharing, purchased leave and more.

The current spotlight is on businesses’ willingness and ability to build a workforce culture that is flexible and sustainable. The Fair Work Commision (FWC)’s latest draft flexible work clauses, rolled out in September, attests to the nation’s growing desire for a more liberal work environment, allowing employers and employees to work flexibly via a range of methods, such as changing work hours or reducing overall hours via joint agreement.

Now that the door has been opened to greater flexibility, employers should be leveraging all practices possible with the goal of providing long-term, sustainable flexibility to all employees.

When considering all the variables behind flexible working, such as working hours, workforce proximity, employee preference and the nature of their job, it becomes clear that a one-for-all solution no longer works.

Being flexible with flexibility
In the post-COVID era, stringent policies mandating staff to work from home on a full-time basis will no longer work. Businesses hoping to offer flexibility should ask themselves, what do my people want and how can I best address those expectations? Behind the 37 per cent of Aussies that would take a pay cut to remain working from home, we found that 47 per cent of the survey pool are saving more money and over a quarter are living a healthier lifestyle with increased work productivity. Employees’ mental health, financial situation and work-life balance are the key things employers should be looking at when developing flexible arrangements, so that they can best address those work and lifestyle needs.

A hybrid approach to staying connected
Businesses also need to think about how to maintain barrier-free communication to keep employees engaged and business activity running. In communication theory, the Allen Curve reflects that people are four times as likely to interact regularly with someone sitting six feet away from them as with someone 60 feet away. Further, colleagues located on separate floors or in separate buildings are less likely to have unplanned interactions with one another.

Steve Jobs proposed that creativity comes from spontaneous meetings and random discussions. It only takes little mental effort to surmise how indefinite remote working could diminish creativity completely, with employees growing accustomed to the blinding convenience of chatting through a screen, thriving within the limits of informative yet non-imaginative conversations.

As distance-shrinking technology accelerates, physical proximity holds its unique value in gluing the workforce together via spontaneity and surprises. Remote working and digital communication should be a complementary element deployed to support the growth of an existing workplace culture. A well-rounded workplace flexibility plan should recognise and incorporate both online and offline communication tools, so that convenience doesn’t come at the cost of creativity.

Being flexible means having the willingness and ability to adapt and change with time, circumstances, and role responsibilities. Given the unknown variables that surround the COVID-19 crisis, employers hoping to build a flexible workplace need to be ready for a series of conversations with their employees.

Staying nimble to shift with regulation and policies
Legislation and regulation have taken various turns this year. In March, the FWC tightened policies around record keeping and introduced the concept of ‘outer limit’ hours, greatly removing the perceptions of flexibility such as adjusted work hours and remote working.

Now that there is a steady growth in Aussies’ desire for more ‘freedom’, FWC rolled out a draft award flexibility schedule in September, introducing the offering of flexible work hours, compressed and reduced hours upon agreement, and the opportunity to exchange pay for extra annual leave. These rules will come into effect in the coming months, assisting businesses in adopting a more liberal workforce.

While this is good news for Aussies, the legislative changes that took place in a matter of months suggest the volatility of policies that could directly impact how a business is performing. For now, businesses need to start asking themselves – How much flexibility is enough? How to maintain productivity and motivation while offering employees carte blanche? How to calculate time-tracking and pay with accuracy? How to schedule pay cycles for employees who work on flexible hours to support their financial wellness? Finally, how can they build a resilient and agile workforce that can quickly adapt to future uncertainties? Every business’s situation is unique, so it is encouraged that they seek professional, independent advice from experts like The Association for Payroll Specialists to make sure they’re on the right track from both a corporate and legal perspective.

A well-rounded workplace flexibility plan should recognise and incorporate both online and offline communication tools, so that convenience doesn’t come at the cost of creativity.

Working from home is great, but there’s more to that
When considering all the variables behind flexible working, such as working hours, workforce proximity, employee preference and the nature of their job, it becomes clear that a one-for-all solution no longer works. A team member whose work is very individual in nature, such as a journalist, may find the out-of-office environment nurtures better focus to help them beat deadlines. Meanwhile, someone whose job requires collaborative efficiency, such as an engineer or project manager, may derive greater benefit from face-to-face communication to complete projects faster. Not to mention drivers, retail workers and anyone whose role requires an on-site presence at all times, which puts remote working out of the question in the scheme of workplace flexibility.

Being flexible means having the willingness and ability to adapt and change with time, circumstances, and role responsibilities. Given the unknown variables that surround the COVID-19 crisis, employers hoping to build a flexible workplace need to be ready for a series of conversations with their employees. Amid heightened expectations and shifting workplace legislation, those who are flexible with flexibility will eventually be rewarded with high employee engagement, work productivity and great business reputation.

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2020 is the year of many things – for the office, it’s become the year of the flexible worker. Originally an option rarely taken up by employees, flexible working has since become a necessary experiment, and now the preferred style of working for many.

Even as much of Australia begins to slowly move back into the office, with many states now opening up, there is consensus that remote working is here to stay. A recent survey estimated that remote work is set to remain 69 per cent higher post-COVID in New South Wales, with NSW workers indicating they “want the best of both worlds”.

Understanding the real anxieties of today’s flexible worker
For human resources practitioners, the split of workers being at home versus the office may be tricky to manage, especially as many workers grapple with integrating home office functions. Research from Lenovo has found that in just May to July this year, Australians have spent an entire $2.3 billion of their own money on technology, so they can do their jobs normally while working remotely.

COVID-19 has permanently changed the office dynamic, HR must compel decision makers to invest in technology in order to lessen the financial and mental strain on those employees who make their living from the home office.

Even going past this eye-watering figure, HR must also keep in mind the general anxieties felt by Australians while working from home. Among the 85 per cent of Australians who worry while working remotely, most common for office workers is persisting technology challenges at 42 per cent, followed by maintaining relationships with colleagues (38 per cent) and then issues around job insecurity (33 per cent) rounding out the top three.

When we deep dive into these persisting tech issues, we find the usual suspects. More than a third claim that internet connection issues is the main problem they have when working from home. An inability to contact I.T. when needed came in second at 31 per cent and difficulties connecting to office networks followed closely behind at 28 per cent.

Contrary to popular belief, millennial workers are far more likely to report having technology challenges than their Baby Boomers colleagues – with 86 per cent of Millennials having tech issues versus 63 per cent of Baby Boomers. In addition, younger Australians are more likely to seek tech support from other colleagues versus actual IT teams – coming in at 91 per cent against 65 per cent of Baby Boomers who would ask a teammate to help.

Alleviating the financial and tech pressures of flexible working
Although these figures perhaps aren’t surprising, they are concerning. Lenovo’s survey found that Australians working from home spent, on average, $1,138 each just to do their jobs. This financial strain coupled with persistent technology issues results in unhappy and stressed employees. We in the HR community need to remedy this, especially as the working from home trend is set to continue.

The fact of the matter is that remote working must go hand-in-hand with technology support. Those in HR and leadership need to ensure their staff can access the right technology and support to truly maximise the productivity benefits of flexible working.

HR must consider providing technology and offer better IT support for workers who choose to work remotely. Investments must be made in newer technologies for remote workers in order to limit frustrations and provide seamless working conditions that emulate the office.

Look to invest in more up-to-date devices like laptops and mobile phones, as well as Wi-Fi dongles if an employee states that they have regular Internet issues, or if their household has many people working from home at once. For those who have spent their own money in upgrading their equipment, offer to reimburse where appropriate.

When providing newer and better technology, couple this with up-to-date training so your workers can use it immediately and without hassle. Close to half of those surveyed stated that training on new technologies and how to use these effectively can help them with their jobs going forward.

When there are technology issues, look to provide quick and personal support, from not only from the IT team but from human resources themselves. The job for IT has become much more complex and more strained in recent months and if HR can support, this would help rectify many tech issues which are often quite easy to solve.

The fact of the matter is that remote working must go hand-in-hand with technology support. Those in HR and leadership need to ensure their staff can access the right technology and support to truly maximise the productivity benefits of flexible working.

With Australian workplaces likely to remain split between the office and home, it is imperative for human resources and IT to team up to ensure a seamless experience for those working from home. COVID-19 has permanently changed the office dynamic, HR must compel decision makers to invest in technology in order to lessen the financial and mental strain on those employees who make their living from the home office.

Key takeaways –

• Flexible working is now the norm and HR needs to support those working from home.
• Australians have spent $2.3 billion of their own money on technology in the last three months alone.
• HR must consider offering IT hardware and support for remote office workers
• This will reduce financial anxiety and improve productivity and staff happiness.

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More than six months into remote working and the initial novelty has well and truly been replaced by collective fatigue. Isolation from colleagues, feeling like we’re ‘always on’, and the stresses of home-schooling have combined to create extremely challenging conditions for workers, both physically and mentally.

In fact, according to Springfox’s latest study, The Australian Workforce Response to COVID-19, the biggest cause of heightened stress for 55 per cent of respondents was changes to ways of working – which includes having to adapt to new technologies and dealing with blurred boundaries between work and home. As a result, many workers are now finding themselves on the brink of burning out.

It can be near impossible to spot the signs of burnout in a virtual workforce, especially when leaders are unsure of what to look out for. Despite this, in order for organisations to survive and thrive through the pandemic and beyond, employee wellbeing should be a priority for leaders everywhere. If you’re wondering how to identify the signs of burnout in a remote workforce, consider these indicators.

As we move into 2021, it’s highly likely we’ll see a delayed effect of burnout and mental illness sweep across our workforce, as we grapple with the transition into a post-COVID world.

They’re online for long hours
Extended or unusual work hours can be one of the most telling signs of someone experiencing burnout. If you notice your staff logging on very early in the morning or remaining online until late into the evening, it could be a sign that they’re feeling overwhelmed or struggling with their workload.

Some organisations allow staff the flexibility to start earlier or work later depending on their preference, but it’s important to ensure staff are choosing these hours rather than feeling they have no choice. Encourage staff not to stay online any longer than necessary and consider re-evaluating priorities so your team understand which tasks can be left for the next day. Leaders should also lead by example and log off at a reasonable time, and avoid sending emails after 6pm.

They appear fatigued during video calls
Video calls can offer very important insight into how your staff are coping. If an employee frequently appears noticeably fatigued or worn out, it might be a sign that they’re under excessive stress. You should also take notice of body language and facial expressions, such as slumping or resting their head in their hands, or appearing frustrated or sad, as these can also point to burnout.

Leaders should endeavour to check in with staff frequently, especially those who appear to be struggling. If the underlying cause of their exhaustion is work-related, leaders should consider ways to support the employee to alleviate undue stress – this could include temporarily reducing their workload, connecting them to the organisation’s EAP program, or encouraging a mental health day to rest and recover.

They don’t log off to take breaks
Working from home has undoubtedly blurred the lines between work and life, with many of us finding we now work and relax in the same space. But if it seems your staff rarely log off to take breaks throughout the day, it could be a sign they’re overworking – or feeling pressured to do so.

Remote working has, in many cases, rid us of our usual daily routines – which means having a coffee in the break room or ducking out for lunch with a colleague is now no longer on the cards. Nevertheless, remind staff of their break entitlements and encourage them to use them fully, especially while working from home. It’s also important for leaders to lead by example and ensure they’re taking regular breaks themselves, so that staff feel comfortable to do the same.

Encourage staff not to stay online any longer than necessary and consider re-evaluating priorities so your team understand which tasks can be left for the next day.

Their productivity is declining
High levels of stress and mental fatigue have a direct negative impact on productivity. Staff who are experiencing these symptoms are likely to feel disengaged and have trouble concentrating on their work, meaning they’re more likely to drop the ball or make uncharacteristic errors.

Leaders should demonstrate compassion and empathy when broaching the subject of performance with staff by acknowledging the impact of the shift to remote working, and discussing ways the employee may feel more supported to do their best work.

These are some of the more common indicators of burnout, however it’s important for leaders to remain attentive to their team’s wellbeing to ensure other signs are not missed. While burnout in the remote workforce is, in many ways, a result of the unique circumstances facing organisations and their people this year, leaders should be very mindful that this won’t simply end in 2020. Rather, as we move into 2021, it’s highly likely we’ll see a delayed effect of burnout and mental illness sweep across our workforce, as we grapple with the transition into a post-COVID world.

Leaders should endeavour to check in with staff frequently, especially those who appear to be struggling. If the underlying cause of their exhaustion is work-related, leaders should consider ways to support the employee to alleviate undue stress.

Just because your team is working remotely, doesn’t mean you should discount professional learning and development programs either. Our research has shown formal resilience training programs deliver a 30 per cent reduction, on average, in anxiety and depression symptoms, and there are many ways these programs can be delivered to remote working teams.

After all, there’s never been a more important time to build the strength and resilience of your greatest asset – your staff.

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Twenty-twenty forced an increased hand leveraging remote solutions. We’re sensory beings though, so whilst screen share, emojis or breakout rooms are handy, we’ll likely bounce back to live as and when permitted. That said, remote and blended learning, even hybrid events, will stick around longer so it’s a great time to up skill robustly for longevity to make remote sessions memorable and polished.

It’s a curious fact that creativity and reactivity have the same letters yet are complete polarities when applied to ideas and implementation. We saw the creativity in early COVID days. Businesses adapted swiftly to respond online: Zoom and Microsoft Teams being frequently preferred defaults. There are so many choices too, so depending on purpose others may be more robust or suitable: especially meetings or events of scale. We’re also now experiencing the result of that reactivity: sessions have become little more than talking heads, mundane, more of the same or the equivalence of amateur dramatics in execution. ‘You’re still on mute’ being an emerging meme!

The best way to add value to remote sessions is to know your content, do your preparation, know the overall run sheet and segways, take control of smooth transitions, set clear instructions and be a fully present DJ to enhance the total remote flow.

As the former Learning and Development Head for Intercall (West), a conferencing company, all the content the team designed and implemented over a period of two years was through a variety of virtual platforms: both proprietary and licensed. Regardless the virtual flavour you tend to favour here’s some lessons to take into account. They’re designed to lift the quality, engagement and actionable impacts of remote sessions with the beauty being none rely on wiz-bang, most expensive tech!

Don’t get lost in feature wizardry
If leveraging different platforms with different clients keep up to date with upgrades. Simultaneously I see some people leaping to use a funky new feature immediately upon release. You may well be able to insert your face into PowerPoint for a virtual session yet a better question to ask is why would you? If you wouldn’t usually do it, does it make sense or why get excited at the prospect now?

Remind yourself any bells and whistles or wizardry (emojis, chat, polls, questions, breakout rooms, whiteboards, file share, screen share, hand over control, whatever) are for variety and choice. If they fit into the design of content or required outcomes, great, if not, don’t worry: leave them be this time around. To use them otherwise makes the feature akin to Bridget Jones turning up at that garden party in her bunny suit. To a broader audience the feature may feel completely out of place or superfluous.

Blend tech capabilities with basic facilitation skills
Whatever technology or platform you choose should serve to enable a more important aspect: people involvement, engagement and human connection.

There are likely a handful of key features and controls you want to wrap your head around if you’re the overall owner or facilitator. Familiarise yourself with these select few key controls. In that regard you might become a little like a facilitation DJ or ninja. Practise, Mr Meagi Karate Kid style, wax on wax off, becoming nimble through repetition so your hands instinctively where to go in loops:

• Mute, unmute, share, unshare, camera on, camera off… repeat (fun video demo)

Have any files open locally and organised on your desktop ready for use. Familiarise yourself with additional boxes to optimise sharing sound or visuals (especially for videos). Have chat or Q&A boxes isolated, easy to observe when needed, then remember to succinctly position how you wish the audience to interact throughout. A handful of key functions, monitored and mastered, or key instructions will elevate the overall experience and set expectations with the audience at hand. This also means you can be more present.

We’re also now experiencing the result of that reactivity: sessions have become little more than talking heads, mundane, more of the same or the equivalence of amateur dramatics in execution. ‘You’re still on mute’ being an emerging meme!

Audience interaction, participation and sensory engagement
This is a critical key: focus more on overall content design and facilitation in delivery. The more you maintain contact with your camera is akin to looking your audience in the eye. Once you’re comfortable with controls this becomes easier. If video drags down audio quality, elect to place to priority on the sound. Like a great radio segment, listeners can still build powerful pictures and connections within their own mind.

Look for opportunities to ask open questions. As a part of your planning and preparation create activities that allow people to interact or participate. You don’t need breakout rooms for people to work in pairs. They all have phones. It’s your preparation and creative thinking that brings sessions to life. Remember to use tools or props easily found at home: old school pen and paper never hurts.

Part of the beauty with technology is an ability to leverage powerful videos. If you’re going to do this you can still create sensory experiences by rendering files with the decibels pulled right down. That way you can still present live and create additional mood ambiance.

The best way to add value to remote sessions is to know your content, do your preparation, know the overall run sheet and segways, take control of smooth transitions, set clear instructions and be a fully present DJ to enhance the total remote flow.

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“Not on my watch”, “it won’t happen to me” and “I trust our team”. Well-intentioned statements that may cause leaders and management to overlook and ignore red flags and warning signs of misconduct in the workplace. The reality is 36 per cent of fraud in Australia is carried out by an organisation’s own management, according to research from MGI’s Audit and Assurance Team.

Behavioural red flags are indicators identifying potential employee wrongdoing. Recent data from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) suggests 91 per cent of fraud cases had at least one red flag identified and, in 57 per cent of the cases, the fraudster exhibited two or more behaviour flags.

Ultimately, failing to respond appropriately and consistently to misconduct within your business is just as damaging as turning a blind eye.

While “living beyond means” and “financial difficulties” make up the most common red flags, there are many other warning signs that an employee may be committing fraud. Below are the most common behavioural traits or ‘red flags’ associated with wrongdoing in the workplace.

1. Living Beyond Means
2. Financial Difficulties
3. Close Association with Suppliers
4. Control Issues
5. Martial or Family Problems
6. “Wheeler-Dealer” Attitude

Fraud costs the average organisation five per cent of its annual revenue. The presence of red flags doesn’t necessarily imply fraud is being committed, however understanding and recognising these behaviours can help your organisation detect fraud earlier and reduce potential losses.

How can we address red flags?
In an ideal world, a proactive approach to protecting your organisation’s culture can anticipate and act on instances of misconduct before the small stuff becomes big stuff. There are three simple yet important actions a business can take to address red flags.

1. Set the tone from the top down
Setting the right culture comes from the top down. As a senior executive or business owner, you have the obligation to not only set an example for your organisation, but ensure others set and maintain that example. It’s one thing to say what you expect from your people, but it’s another thing to take action when you see people deviating from the expected behaviour.

2. Make it easy for your people to report potential issues early and safely
Make it safe and easy for your employees to speak up by providing a range of reporting options – both internally and externally. This can be through traditional internal channels such as speaking with your manager, approaching a senior leader or someone in the HR team or external channels like an independently managed hotline. Research from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners shows 45 per cent of occupational frauds are detected via an internal ‘tip’ – this is 3-times more effective than other detection methods.

3. Foster a positive work environment
It’s one thing to set out to create the right culture for your business, but it’s even more important to ensure you invest in protecting that culture. A positive workplace culture where your people genuinely “buy in” to the organisation’s culture improves teamwork, raises morale, increases productivity and efficiency and enhances job satisfaction.

However, when something goes wrong, you must respond quickly and effectively. Investigate and respond to allegations of fraud and misconduct in a considered and timely manner. Ultimately, failing to respond appropriately and consistently to misconduct within your business is just as damaging as turning a blind eye.

Employee misconduct during the WFH revolution
While many have thrived and flourished in the switch to a remote or hybrid work environment, the new normal can increase the risk of fraud and misconduct in your business. The lack of visible supervision, reliance on effective information technology systems and the disconnected nature of remote working may increase the opportunity for employees to engage in unethical or unlawful behaviour.

As a senior executive or business owner, you have the obligation to not only set an example for your organisation, but ensure others set and maintain that example. It’s one thing to say what you expect from your people, but it’s another thing to take action when you see people deviating from the expected behaviour.

Adding to this risk is for those employees who are experiencing challenges due to the pandemic and economic situation. Increased financial pressure from a spouse or partner losing a job can place enormous pressure on the sole bread winner – coupled with remote working and poor internal controls creates a perfect storm for fraud to occur.

Here are some useful tips to consider to help reduce fraud and misconduct occurring in a remote workplace:

• Policies and Procedures: Ensure your policies and procedures are up to date, being shared with your people and tracked accordingly. Your people need to know and understand the obligations upon them as an employee. With remote working, there comes new challenges and that’s why centralised risk and compliance platform’s such as Corethix (www.corethix.com) can ensure your people know and understand what’s expected of them.

• Upgrade your IT Security: Invest in upgrading your IT Security to ensure your people are working safely within your network whilst at home through a VPN and firewall. Working from home creates increased risks for cyber-attacks on your intellectual property and confidential information. It’s important you can monitor and track employee behaviour in the event you need to respond to an incident.

• Education and training is the new black: Now, more than ever, organisations are seeing the value of investing in education and training to keep their people engaged and connected. At Core Integrity, we help clients to educate their people about fraud, corruption and how to create safe speak up cultures through delivering online training to remote teams.

Whilst we may not return to the office full-time, now is the time to take the lead in structuring a return to work plan that not only suits your organisation but each individual employee.

• Inspect what you expect: Maintain regular one-on-ones with your direct reports and take the time to inspect their outputs from a work perspective. Be aware if any of your people exhibit some of the red flags, which may indicate the person is under stress. Control issues, defensiveness, unwillingness to share duties or unexplained absences are all signs something more could be going on.

• Return to the office plans: As the number of new COVID cases remains low across Australia, organisations are now slowly returning to the office. Whilst we may not return to the office full-time, now is the time to take the lead in structuring a return to work plan that not only suits your organisation but each individual employee.

Key Takeaways
Recent data from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) suggests 91 per cent of fraud cases had at least one red flag identified and, in 57 per cent of the cases, the fraudster exhibited two or more behaviour flags.

While “living beyond means” and “financial difficulties” make up the key red flags, the most common behavioural traits or characteristics associated with employee misconduct and wrongdoing in the workplace include:

1. Living Beyond Means
2. Financial Difficulties
3. Close Association with Suppliers
4. Control Issues
5. Martial or Family Problems
6. “Wheeler-Dealer” Attitude

The presence of red flags doesn’t necessarily imply fraud is being committed, however understanding and recognising these behaviours can help your organisation detect fraud earlier and reduce potential losses. As the old saying goes, sooner or later you have to pay the piper. The best way to manage fraud and employee misconduct – is to prevent it.

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For HR professionals across the world, the sudden and widespread move to remote work has been quite the challenge. However, for many organisations the changes made thus far have opened up a world of opportunity.

With countless noticeable benefits to flexible work practices, many HR managers are preparing for a long-term adoption of this approach to work. Remote work policies have been adjusted, as well as learning objectives and training delivery schedules moved to accommodate the distributed nature of work.

But this is only the beginning. As we look towards the new year, preparing for ongoing uncertainty and continued social distancing practices, there is a new workplace structure that is set to take centre stage. Hybrid teams are made up of individuals who rotate between working on-site and working remotely. This is seen as one of the most realistic ways to offer flexible working practices while also maintaining a ‘home base’ where teams can complete specific tasks on-site.

HR managers need to begin familiarising themselves with hybrid work, and in doing so, prepare their strategies and structures for a widespread adoption of the hybrid workforce model. In this article, we’ll explore the most important considerations for HR managers to make as they prepare for the shift to hybrid teams.

For hybrid workplaces planning learning and development it’s worthwhile incorporating components of feedback, virtual leadership and coaching skills.

Clarify your hybrid team structure
There are quite a few different combinations of hybrid teams out there. Most commonly a hybrid team structure is defined by the roles and responsibilities of those working in a hybrid model. For example, there may be set groups who need to be on-site to meet clients or handle specialised equipment. Those individuals may have set days where they’re required on site, with one or two optional days where they can choose to work remotely. In order for a hybrid model to be successfully adopted, you’ll need to clarify your team structure and exceptions prior to the transition.

Identify your hybrid working policies and procedures
Speaking of exceptions, it’s worthwhile talking about hybrid working policies and procedures. While a lot of what’s included in your remote working policies will apply to hybrid teams, there are additional considerations to be made.

For example, in other hybrid workplaces such as HubSpot, they allow individuals across the organisation to make changes to their split schedule between the office and remote work yearly. This allows the team to maintain consistency and increase visibility across the organisation.

Review your workplace communication tools
During the shift to remote working it’s likely that your organisation has adopted certain communication frameworks and established digital communication and collaboration tools that are updated regularly.

With hybrid work on the horizon, you’ll need to determine how your communication frameworks need to change to reflect your new team structures. If the majority of your organisation moves back to working from a shared office space, while some continue to work remotely, there will need to be a strong foundation of digital communication tools that are updated regularly to ensure employees don’t fall out of the loop.

As we look towards the new year, preparing for ongoing uncertainty and continued social distancing practices, there is a new workplace structure that is set to take centre stage. Hybrid teams are made up of individuals who rotate between working on-site and working remotely.

Assess your training delivery schedule
What does training look like when you can’t bring everyone together in the same space? And with all the changes to the way we work over the last 12 months, what new skills need to be developed in order for our organisations to remain competitive and our people to perform at a high level?

For hybrid workplaces planning learning and development it’s worthwhile incorporating components of feedback, virtual leadership and coaching skills. It’s also very important that when virtual instructor-led training is utilised that the streaming service, facilitator and filming equipment is of a high quality in order to be engaging and deliver on key learning outcomes.

Now’s the time to take action. Prepare yourself and your teams for the shift to a hybrid workforce model with these practical steps.

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With the realisation that remote working will almost certainly change the landscape of office-based work forever, leaders are now having to think longer-term about how they can help their teams thrive in a remote arrangement.

A recent report by Springfox titled ‘The Australian Workforce Response to COVID-19: A call for courage, connection and compassion’ found that worry and anxiety were the prevailing emotions for 21.7 per cent of professionals in Australia’s COVID workforce. Unsurprisingly, stress levels also increased significantly.

While remote working has certainly presented many challenges for Australia’s workforce, it also presents some exciting opportunities for flexibility and freedom in the way we work.

Interestingly, the main cause of stress for workers was not due to personal or health concerns, but rather as a result of changes to ways of working. In fact, an alarming 55 per cent of those surveyed were experiencing stress mainly due to their new working conditions. In addition, the combined pressures of working with technology, blurred boundaries between home and work, time management issues, operating in an ‘always-on’ culture, and worry about the future also contributed to workers feeling stressed.

It’s, therefore, unsurprising that 32.1 per cent of survey respondents reported lower levels of positivity and optimism compared to pre-COVID-19, and 39.4 per cent of leaders recognised this negative turn in their staffs’ outlook. Interestingly, one of the strongest drivers of positivity and optimism for our survey respondents was having a connection with others, in particular with work colleagues.

As workers were removed from their offices, they were disconnected from the constant stream of social interactions that influenced their well-being and sense of belonging at work. While working from home can bring a sense of freedom and opportunity, it can also feel lonely and isolating.

An individual’s well-being is deeply influenced by their opportunity to engage positively with other people. Remember, isolation isn’t just bad for your employees, it’s bad for business. Employees who feel isolated and disconnected at work have lower motivation, lower performance, and lower productivity.

So, what can HR leaders do to foster connectedness among staff and address some of these overarching concerns felt by workers?

These are some simple and practical steps leaders can take to promote a thriving workplace culture for remote teams and staff facing significant changes to their ways of working.

1. Communicate regularly
So much communication is non-verbal, especially in a remote working environment. It’s therefore important to set up periodic virtual face-to-face meetings to help everyone connect and stay on the same page.

However, be sure to strike the right balance. Our survey revealed many managers and leaders have gone over the top in trying to compensate for the absence of connection by scheduling back-to-back Zoom meetings and constant check-ins – leaving workers feeling hypervigilant and fatigued.

Instead, encourage a healthy mix of face-to-face calls and other platforms for communication. Cloud-based platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams are great for facilitating fuss-free collaboration and communication with co-workers throughout the day.

2. Promote empathy
Teams are made up of people who need to be able to understand one another and feed off each other in order to effectively work together. Therefore, it’s important not to underestimate the ability of staff to directly influence the level of positivity and optimism in the workplace.

Leaders will need to practice empathy as their staff endures increasing uncertainty and more changes to ways of working. Actively facilitate ways for your team to touch base with you to express their concerns or feelings. It goes without saying that showing personal warmth can help to build the trust of your team.

3. Give clarity of purpose
Your staff are already feeling the pressure of uncertainty when it comes to their future work and their workplace setting, so re-establishing a sense of purpose by giving clarity to what that might look like is vital for boosting employee morale and engagement across all levels of the organisation.

Overall, purpose is a powerful driving force of daily behaviour and collaboration amongst staff members. For this reason, make it clear to your team what their shared purpose is, and how they can work together to achieve it.

4. Practice resilience
Connection and resilience go hand in hand, as having a strong support network is imperative for improving overall well-being and positive mental health. This is even more important in the absence of physical presence.

There are a number of ways to build resilience and boost mental well-being including exercising regularly, eating a healthy and well-balanced diet, getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, taking the time to detox from technology in the evening, and making time for hobbies outside of work.

Leaders can encourage staff to build resilience by leading by example and modeling some of these practices in their own life.

While working from home can bring a sense of freedom and opportunity, it can also feel lonely and isolating.

5. Build leadership trust
Our survey highlighted a huge disconnect in how much staff felt trust levels had dropped compared with leaders’ perceptions of this. One-third of workers reported lower trust levels compared with just 16 per cent of bosses who thought the same.

This blissful delusion has contributed significantly to staff feeling stressed and disconnected while working from home. Therefore, fostering positive connections in the workplace starts with building a culture of trust at a leadership level.

Leaders should aim to build trust with their employees by promoting a sense of shared purpose, connection and openness rather than setting tasks and excessive meetings that can cause fatigue and a sense of micromanagement and isolation. Instead, leaders should demonstrate care for their staff by showing compassion, integrity, and honesty.

While remote working has certainly presented many challenges for Australia’s workforce, it also presents some exciting opportunities for flexibility and freedom in the way we work. As remote working becomes more permanent, HR leaders would do well to consider the potential pitfalls associated with this model and strive to foster environments built on trust and connection.

Image Source: Pexels

The post How HR leaders can foster connectedness and help workers thrive during remote working appeared first on Inside HR.

Many of the conventional wisdoms strongly held by some leaders, about how to influence productivity and engagement are being challenged through these times.  Those who for example hold firm to the belief that people can’t be trusted to work if not supervised, are especially struggling to adapt.

As any leader who has been at the helm of a team distributed around the country or globe can attest, these are not new challenges, just new to many leaders.  HR people have an essential role to play in guiding leaders to confront the realities of the circumstances we face and find new ways of working and achieving the business outcomes that are needed.

Get back to basics
There is no magic wand that can make the job of leading teams simple, at the best of times, let alone these.  Now is a good time for a back to basics strategy that has leaders focused on clarity, coaching and accountability.  Clarity means that people understand what is expected of them and where the key priorities lie.  It also means they have some insight to what leaders are thinking the future might hold and how they intend to respond.

As any leader who has been at the helm of a team distributed around the country or globe can attest, these are not new challenges, just new to many leaders.

Irrespective of whether leaders are leading remotely 100% of the time, or through a blended model that includes some in person interactions, the fundamentals of success remain unchanged.  Connection and communication are key to optimal performance.

Enable connection
Start by working with leaders to identify the routines that will ensure their team continue to feel a sense of belonging and connection.  Its essential that leaders deliberately influence collaboration, and a well-planned and facilitated team meeting can go a long way toward ensuring people remain focused on collective success and shared accountability.

Help leaders to appreciate the more they understand their people the more effective they are likely to be in influencing their engagement and performance.

The most obvious mistake leaders make when managing remotely is failing to engage in regular, and meaningful dialogue about what is expected, how things are going and what needs to improve.  Adopting a coaching is key to staying close to people and keeping the lines of communication wide open.  Help leaders to appreciate the more they understand their people the more effective they are likely to be in influencing their engagement and performance.

Strengthen communication skills
Of course, it can be more challenging to have some conversations via technology, but that is no reason not to engage in them.  HR are wise to dedicate time supporting leaders to strengthen their communication skills particularly when it comes to building confidence in a highly uncertain environment and having tough love conversations about performance or engagement.

HR can play an important role in helping leaders to determine how best to enable the performance of their team, and each person on it.

Reflect for a moment on how well most of the leaders you support tend to communicate.  If you work for a business that is like most others, who will have leaders at every level of your organisations structure who struggle to communicate well when stakes are high, or emotions are charged.  Help these leaders to recognise what stands in their way of having honest conversations with respect and sensitivity, and to move past them.

There is no denying that the goal posts are constantly shifting and like anyone else, leaders need to be agile in the ways in which they approach their job.  HR can play an important role in helping leaders to determine how best to enable the performance of their team, and each person on it.  Leaders can benefit greatly from HR advice that helps them to see how success is possible even though they can’t ask people to get back to their desk.

Image Source: Pexels

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Atlassian’s remote working program is grounded in months of internal and external research, which has led the company to create an assessment of how ready someone is to work remotely based on their personality, role and team.

Atlassian has also taken learnings from some of the best remote teams around the world, as well as those which have failed at remote working and faced business problems as a result.

Chee explained that the business case for Atlassian’s remote working program was twofold: supporting a changing workforce and accommodating future growth.

An internal Atlassian survey found that 95 percent of employees would be willing to change how they work to enable more remote working.

Chee also explained that it was important for the company to lead the charge in changing practices to adapt to the future of work.

“The majority of our employees said investing in remote work is critical to fulfilling Atlassian’s mission and living Atlassian’s values,” she said.

Talent acquisition was also an important driver for the program “to help us scale at a fast pace and tap into a wider Australian talent pool”, said Chee.

Atlassian is the top employer of software engineers in Sydney, but Chee said that 63 percent of software engineers in Australia are located outside of Sydney.

“Impulsive implementation is a big risk to going remote, with 57 per cent of companies lacking a remote policy”

Earlier this year Atlassian recruited externally for its first fully remote team in Australia and experienced a 25 percent increase in inbound interest compared to similar roles based in the Sydney office.

“So, we know the demand is there,” said Chee.

Atlassian conducted extensive research across medium to large technology companies, and found that there are four key areas to focus on to improve the chances of remote working success:

1. Team configuration
2. Team operations
3. Communication culture and tools
4. Team health and wellness

“We’ve focused on these areas when building our assessment tool for remote,” said Chee.

“We also learnt that impulsive implementation is a big risk to going remote, with 57 per cent of companies lacking a remote policy.

“This is why we have taken a crawl before we walk approach and making sure we have things like practices in place to help reduce risk,” she said.

In implementing the strategy, Chee said it was important to focus on enabling employees to work remotely through maintaining the health and quality of teams.

To do this, she said the most integral part of the strategy was the assessment in order to determine if individuals and their teams were ready to work remotely.

“The majority of our employees said investing in remote work is critical to fulfilling Atlassian’s mission and living Atlassian’s values”

“We understand remote working is a spectrum, which means employees can be partially remote, working remotely on one or two days a week,” she said.

Atlassian also has a series of practices in place to help teams address loneliness, among other things.

“For example, there is a Slack room where remote employees can connect, based on a concept of ‘side-by-side open hours’ where anyone can log into a Zoom call and say ‘hi’.

“These are things that a lot of Atlassian employees are using today and have been successful so far in ensuring remote workers don’t feel isolated.

“We’re trying to work in lots of these practices to stimulate the in-office relationship and experience,” she said.

The program is currently being rolled out across the Sydney Atlassian office and Chee said there was already strong interest and readiness on the part of teams to participate.

“Starting in one area of the globe and not being hasty in implementation has been really integral in our strategy to date,” she said.

“This is just the start of our rollout, which we plan on testing, learning and adapting.

“We’re hoping to see some more formalised learnings later on in the year and will be open sourcing our methods and practices for other companies to learn from also.”

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