05 Dec 10 Advantages of a Blended Work Model for Global Mobility Pros, Companies, Assignees

A few months ago, the buzzword was work from home, if not remote work. Today, it’s a distributed workforce model — or a blended work model.

While everyone is not on board with this approach since COVID-19 still poses a serious threat, some are willing to test it out of necessity, if not because both employees and employers have weighed their options — totally being isolated at home is not healthy. Besides, it’s not too crowded at the office if others are working from home.

Here are some ways that a distributed workforce model could work and their advantages from two sources, The Enterprises Project and Lifesize:

1. A hybrid model can still spark serendipity. The combo of remote and onsite work will eventually be more popular. While many companies have found a way to work productively together on a remote basis, there are many employers who still think that serendipity — the spark that happens only when you’re face to face with someone otherwise known as serendipity — is essential. If not for this argument, many would just concede to making people work from home. 

2. Employees get to pick an office location. This is an advantage for companies with more than one office location, because it means they have more options to find talents. By office locations, this means a company with both local and international locations. Those with offices worldwide, multinationals for example, will find that they can be more productive than those with only one office, which can be isolating.

3. Public spaces can break monotony. Some people like to work in a coffee shop or library. In this pandemic, that has been hard to do. But for those who have a co-working space, having this option could work, taking into consideration the safety of those who would like to work in a public space.

4. Encourage innovation. A blended work model could also bring about innovation, assuming the company is open to having different offices. Innovation can result from having employees in Amsterdam, India, and the Philippines interacting with teams in the United States.

5. Companies gain exposure everywhere. The same way assignees get exposed to work systems in different offices, local or worldwide, so do companies which stand to benefit from having some presence albeit an online one. 

6. Opportunity for hiring, remote or not. Companies will have the advantage of finding out from their online interactions who they will need for their onsite offices in the future. If not, they can always ask the HR team in various offices to make recommendations.

7. Performance assessments will be easier. If global mobility professionals can join the interaction of assignees with their employers, it will be easier for everyone to know how to improve and provide more training to assignees, especially if all interactions are recorded. As ties to a physical workspace disappear, it may become easier to have the assignees become more accountable to their roles and responsibilities.

8. Companies can become truly diverse and inclusive. If assignees from all over the world can work with their US counterparts, it would mean the issue of diversity would not be a problem anymore. Online work that involves using Zoom or similar enterprise video communications within a team can help break down barriers as people notice that there’s less politicking that happens online, given that everyone can see each other and employees still feel someone is watching. 

9. Office space savings mean more hires. There won’t be additional office rent, office furniture, office supplies, use of electricity, food and beverage costs as well as other expenses. This means additional cost savings for the company which should help have the extra money for hiring people and expanding their business.

10. Job interviews would be faster and with more people involved. With the availability of video conference tools, companies should be able to set up job interviews. Beyond global mobility professionals or HR, even different office teams can join the interview processes thereby saving everyone — the recruiter and applicant — time.  (Dennis Clemente)