In 2024, more businesses in Vietnam are considering hybrid work. Driven by the pandemic, a younger workforce, and technological innovation, more businesses are adopting this flexible working model.
But what is a hybrid working model? What does hybrid work mean? What are some examples to refer to?
In this article, I’ll walk you through the answers to these questions and more. And we know what we’re talking about: we’ve been offering a hybrid schedule from before COVID and are fully hybrid now.
Hybrid, or hybrid remote, work offers the flexibility to work from home and the office. Employees can work remotely on some days and be physically present in the office on others.
People can skip the dreaded long motorbike commutes for one or more days per week and do their work from home. On other days, they’ll join their colleagues in the office to collaborate in person. This setup balances the benefits of remote work, such as flexibility, with the advantages of in-person collaboration.
In other markets like Singapore and the USA, hybrid work is the most popular working method.
2023 Stanford research shows that US-based employees now work from home 1 in 4 days. This number is still much lower in Vietnam, but I expect it to rise in the coming years as the job market becomes more global.
After the COVID lockdowns, more companies implemented hybrid remote work as it offers a range of benefits. For employees, more flexibility means better balancing work and life, less commuting times, and more time to work productively.
This is why the University of Leeds found that Hybrid work increases job satisfaction, engagement, and commitment. In the US, employees value working from home even as much as an 8% pay increase, recent Stanford research showed.
Here in Vietnam, Dreamplex research supports the same: 56% of Gen Z appreciated flexibility the most about working from home during COVID-19. 1 in 4 Gen Z-ers say that having no commute is what they love most about working from home.
Other benefits of hybrid work, according to international research, include:
All these benefits are the reasons many companies are now exploring hybrid work.
While there are many benefits, we must acknowledge that there are downsides, too. Common challenges on work-from-home days include:
These are challenges experienced in mature markets where people have worked remotely for many years. In Vietnam, remote work is so new that our work culture isn’t always ready for it.
Our research amongst Vietnamese Gen Z shows that distractions at home, a lack of discipline, and difficulty communicating are reasons why they still prefer office days over fully remote work.
We can overcome these challenges, and many companies are making strides towards this. Hybrid work can work as well as in-office work, but it requires intentional design of strategies and practices.
You and everyone have their own time and place when they’re most productive. The psychologist Mihàly Csìkszentmihàlyi has a name for the moment you’re most productive: “flow.”
As he explains in his book Flow, this is when you fully use your core capabilities to meet a goal or challenge. He found that individuals who often experienced flow were more productive. And they derived greater satisfaction from their work than those who didn’t.
Amongst the ways to achieve ‘flow’ is to understand the time and place you are most productive. This may be different depending on the task. For example, you may do your emails best in the morning before work at home. While you are most creative or strategic between 10 and 12 in the office. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos famously doesn’t schedule any meetings that demand his deep focus after 12 p.m.
Hybrid work helps people achieve peak productivity. This is a win-win for both companies and employees. Of course, there are downsides to working so flexibly, too.
For many employees, having this amount of freedom is a new concept. They are not used to having to motivate themselves. A lack of motivation and discipline is one of the main issues for Vietnamese Gen Z working from home.
As with everything, hybrid working is something everyone will have to learn. From the leadership to managers to individual employees.
Hybrid work also changes the requirements for an office. After all, if work can happen at home, why would people still come to the office? According to 2023 research from the renowned consultancy BCG, people want to be in the office to meet other people:
“For instance, participants were eight times more likely to prefer being in-person for affiliation and development, compared with doing work that requires focus or tackling administrative tasks, which are better done remotely.” In Vietnam, Dreamplex’s Gen Z research showed that over 60% of employees want to come to the office for collaboration and connection.
The answer is yes. Companies adopting hybrid work should create spaces accommodating social, meeting, and focused work activities. These types of spaces can exist anywhere in the office. It does not matter whether they’re distributed or grouped together. The importance of offering all these spaces is critical.
Research shows that offering a variety of spaces drives more employee engagement. It provides them with more opportunities to do their best work every day. At the same time, it also increases the sense that their company cares enough to deliver this to them.
These are the key types of spaces a hybrid office needs:
More remote work also means that there is more isolation and loneliness. Feeling isolated while working from home is the biggest concern people identified. As we saw above, the top reason to return to the office is to connect with co-workers.
In a survey we ran during the COVID lockdown, 1 in 2 Dreamplex members say that it’s contact with coworkers they missed the most from the physical office. 63% said they missed other members of the community.
According to Steelcase research, having a strong sense of community is essential for boosting productivity and positively influencing engagement, innovation, and commitment to an organization. Google has even recognized community as a top reason to continue investing in physical offices.
People tend to find each other in various spaces, where they have casual encounters, such as community areas, lounges, pantries, coffee shops, outdoor spaces, and entertainment areas. Together, these spaces can facilitate more impromptu and casual interactions among employees.
The COVID pandemic has shown us that online collaboration is possible. However, many find it still more effective in person at the office.
This is because trust is a vital factor for successful collaboration, and it is easier to build trust face-to-face. Therefore, optimal collaboration occurs when we can approach someone physically and have access to the necessary tools and resources.
This is especially true for Gen Z and Millennials in Vietnam, according to Dreamplex’s Gen Z research. They say that they prefer to work in groups, in person.
It is important to prioritize focused work in a hybrid office. However, having your own dedicated desk is becoming less of a norm.
Flexible or “hot desks” are a better approach to avoid underutilized workspaces, because your company pays for every desk in the office, whether it’s used or not. Unfortunately, hot desks are often placed near social areas to save on rental space, which defeats the purpose of a focus area.
Ideally, desks should be placed in an open but quiet area where employees can concentrate. In larger offices, neighborhoods of desks can be established in various zones to provide individuals with options. Open spaces and flexible schedules can lead to overcrowding, which should be avoided.
Companies can solve this in two ways, first, by partnering with a flexible office provider like Dreamplex. This gives them access to a coworking space on an on-demand basis. And ensure that companies pay for space only when they need it.
Second, they can tap into desk booking software and room scheduling software. These platforms allow employees to book space so that the company knows when to halt bookings.
Providing plenty of social, meet, and focus space for employees while balancing the company budget is often challenging for companies.
A typical office lacks enough space for a great launch, plenty of break-out space, and zones for focused work. Often, companies choose to compromise by having a central lounge perform double or triple duty, such as a reception, a break-out space, a meeting space, and a pantry.
Pushing too many elements into a limited floor plate to reduce cost is unnecessary. Coworking spaces like Dreamplex can provide social, meet, and focus spaces at a fraction of the cost.
Projects like Dreamplex Ngo Quang Huy and Dreamplex Le Hien Mai have hundreds of square meters of these kinds of spaces. Some even include a huge garden and outdoor entertainment area. This means even small companies can have the kind of office for rent that was only available to enterprises before.
For larger companies, building and operating large offices that offer all the spaces a hybrid office needs isn’t an issue. Still, it requires employees to come to one office no matter what the task.
A great example is Fujitsu, who wanted to support their team to be more productive. Their hybrid strategy, therefore, focused not on one single office to supplement remote work. Instead, Fujitsu created an ecosystem of spaces that together formed the “borderless office.” It includes hubs that maximize cooperation, satellites that facilitate coordination, and shared offices that enable focus.
Smaller companies can’t afford to build such a network. But again, providers like Dreamplex can solve this problem. With All Access and On Demand memberships, Dreamplex provides companies with a network of spaces. This includes smaller coworking spaces near where employees live. And huge campuses that are worth traveling to for large meetings and collaboration sessions. Now, any company can give an employee access to over 10,000m2 of office space!
As places (and time) to work change, management also needs to change. The manager and their reports must learn how to be at their best in a hybrid work model. Take, for example, PwC, one of the largest employers in the UK and a global leader in professional services.
In March 2022, they introduced “The Deal” as a flexible work commitment for 22,000 employees in response to changing working patterns. It includes freedom in starting and ending times, the opportunity to work from home, and reduced ‘summer days.’ Kevin Ellis, chairman and senior partner at PwC, said: “We’ve long promoted flexible working. We hope today’s announcements make it much more the norm rather than the exception. We want our people to feel trusted and empowered.”
Hybrid and remote organizations can have a drawback in terms of equity. Remote workers may experience fewer opportunities and less support compared to those working in the office.
Rich Barton, the CEO of Zillow, expressed concerns about this issue last year, emphasizing the need for equal treatment of all team members regardless of their physical location.
Research indicates that remote workers may receive fewer promotions, be less productive, and receive less critical information necessary for career growth. They can also feel less engaged and more likely to detach from the company, leading to resignations, especially among those in collaborative roles. To address these problems, organizations can use technology and establish effective processes and policies.
To create a more equitable workplace, integrate technology and physical spaces. Provide each participant with their own screen during hybrid meetings and good audio equipment.
Use collaboration software like Miro, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365 for shared documents and whiteboards.
Create open “social” channels on tools like Slack or Workplace for informal conversations. This helps to bridge the divide between remote and in-person workers.
HR plays a crucial role in a successful hybrid workplace. Policies and procedures need to be designed, communicated, trained, and checked regularly. To ensure equity for non-office workers, information should be available online, and conversations should be documented. “Handbook-first” approach to significant changes is best, providing a central place for company information.
Empathy is crucial for equity too, and leaders should model hybrid behaviors to signal productivity isn’t tied to the office.
I know that when it comes to implementing hybrid work, it can be challenging to know where to start. However, it’s important to keep in mind that hybrid work is likely to become a requirement in the (near) future, and companies that offer it are more appealing to employees.
As a company is made up of people, it’s crucial to attract, engage, and retain the best talent. With only 9.4% of Vietnamese Gen Z believing that work should only happen in the office, now is the perfect time to start implementing hybrid work.
To get started, take these three steps:
Now that hybrid work has become the standard way of working globally, I believe Vietnam can’t be far behind. By implementing hybrid work, you can attract and retain top talent while increasing flexibility and productivity for your team. A true win-win for the future of work.
Dreamplex creates “A Better Day at Work” by perfectly meeting the needs of rapidly growing companies that understand their young employees expect more from their workplace.
With professional, flexible workspaces, top-notch hospitality services, and a collaborative community for mutual growth, Dreamplex helps businesses work productively while optimizing operational costs.
Join the community with tech experts and startup founders from TIKI, Zuhlke Vietnam, GFT Group, Vietcetera, at Dreamplex’s flexible office spaces in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Get a quote and explore October promotions at:
WE CREATE BETTER DAYS AT WORK.
