We are almost approaching the second year since this pandemic started and we definitely remember how life was before. You get up in the morning, sometimes late. You rushed to go to work and get through that heavy morning traffic. You spent an hour or more on the road daily. And when you do get to the office, you’re feeling somewhat tired although the day just started.

When the pandemic hit us, the entire world was forced to adapt, businesses reduced in operations because people had to stay at home. You know it all, we went through it together. But due to it, amazing things has come out of it that disrupted the way we do things like virtual hiring or remote work.

Countless of articles and blogs have been written on the positives of virtual hiring and remote work. To name a few:

Virtual hiring:

• Speeds up recruitment

• Mitigates scheduling clashes

• Less stress and pressure for the candidates

• Equal playing field for the candidates

Remote work:

• Promotes employee well-being, ownership, and independence

• Cost efficient

• Extend outreach and have access to a bigger talent pool

• Mitigates location preferences

Despite all these positives, we should not dismiss what the old world had to offer for us. You know, things like:

• A conducive and productive working environment

• Colleagues

• Face to face engagements

• Lunch buddies

We should not ask if “It’s here to stay?” because we must concede the positives that came out of the way we have been doing business in the last 2 years. As much as we crave for things to go back to the way it was, I believe the best way forward is not to bring back the old life but working towards a new and hybrid approach. It’s called Hybrid workplace.

A hybrid workplace is a business model that combines the best of both worlds. Some businesses would have their core teams working in the office, on rotation, while other functions can have flexibility. While some businesses would just make it mandatory to be in the office on certain days where it is required to attend in-person meetings. Basically, a hybrid workplace model would allow people to fit work into their lives rather than the other way around.

As COVID is still among us, it is completely understandable for people to be afraid despite the vaccination efforts. So, employers should implement a hybrid workplace where people are able to have options whether they want to work remotely or work in the office. This hybrid approach gives flexibility to the employees and ownership in their work as they can decide on how and where they work.

In summary, if there’s one positive thing that we can say for a certain since the pandemic started is that it has allowed us to reimagine and revamp the way we do things, especially when it comes to the workplace. For this to work, employers should have a detailed plan and communicate things efficiently to their people. The pandemic is a phase but people’s lives are not.