Seven Scottish employers and almost 100 members of staff have benefitted from free training on how to get the best from their hybrid arrangement, and our successful workshop, Working Well, is now available to other Scottish employers.

Our research shows hybrid working is here to stay with 77% of Scottish office and desk-based workers able to work hybrid or remotely. Yet while hybrid offers many opportunities, it’s still our biggest change to working patterns in over a century.

Any organisation that wants to make a success of hybrid will undoubtedly face challenges – often around communication, connection and staff wellbeing – and these need to be overcome to unlock the benefits hybrid can deliver.

Team support

Thanks to funding from Paths for All’s Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme we developed a one-off, half-day workshop and four short, follow-on videos to help hybrid working teams strengthen communication, connection and staff wellbeing, to ensure hybrid working continues to work well for people and organisations in the long term.

The funding enabled us to deliver free workshops for teams at Ayrshire Housing, Circular Communities Scotland, Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland, Cyber & Fraud Centre Scotland, Relationship Scotland: Tayside & Fife, Pineview Housing Association and Zero Waste Scotland.

Key learnings

The workshop and videos focus on:

• The importance of being connected with colleagues (online AND in-person) and discuss activities and approaches that can strengthen team relationships
• Personal working styles and communication preferences, as well as those of colleagues, to see when the team works and communicates well, and when it could be improved
• What practical things you can put in place to support good hybrid working

Positive feedback

We were delighted with feedback from participants, who said the training was ‘well delivered, interactive and fun’ had helped them understand ‘different personality types and how to accommodate these into different working environments’ and to be ‘more aware of staff feeling isolated at home’.

“The team appreciated ‘an excuse’ to have the conversations we should have been having.”
Michael Cook, Chief Executive Officer, Circular Communities Scotland

“A great opportunity to get to know my colleagues better, structured around a positive, relevant and meaningful subject.”
Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland

Benefits of hybrid

When you get hybrid right, it can lead to improved productivity and staff retention, as well as better wellbeing for workers and a reduced carbon footprint. A total of 85% of participants in our funded sessions said hybrid working meant they travelled less often, a key evaluation measure for Paths for All’s Smarter Choices Smarter Places programme, which aims to increase active and sustainable travel throughout Scotland.

Book your team’s place

Is your hybrid working well? Hybrid is ‘business as usual’ for most employers with staff who can work from home, and it’s often one of the first things candidates ask about during recruitment. Make sure your hybrid arrangement is really delivering for your people and your business by bringing your team together for our fun, interactive Working Well workshop that costs just £50 per person. You can read more information about the training here. Or contact us to book via 0141 378 8330 or hello@flexibilityworks.org