Our approach to hybrid working
For our Moneysupermarket product and technology teams we’ve chosen Tuesdays and Wednesdays as our core office days and we wanted to explain why.
4 November 2021
Like many organisations as a result of Covid, MONY Group has moved to a hybrid working model. Through a working group involving colleagues across the organisation, we agreed to at least 40% of days in the office per month. In Product and Technology we’ve chosen Tuesdays and Wednesdays as our core days. There are a few reasons why we’ve chosen to take this approach...
Everyone being in the office at the same time enables greater cross-team interaction than if people or teams came in on different days. It’s difficult to replicate remotely those serendipitous, water cooler moments, where a quick five-minute conversation in the kitchen means a meeting can be avoided or finding out that someone has already solved your problem. Even just creating those in-person relationships with people you don’t work with on a day-to-day basis has very high value.
There will be a clearer office first and remote first divide for everyone. The intention is to use office time for activities that work best in person, such as planning, problem solving, workshops and other things which require group collaboration and creativity. The days we can work from anywhere are then hopefully clearer, with larger blocks of uninterrupted time, and can be used for the types of work which require more deep focus. As part of this we’re investing in kit to ensure office first is remote inclusive.
Having consistent days makes it easier to plan your life. Particularly for working parents, it’s a lot easier to arrange childcare (such as wrap around care, breakfast and after school clubs) when you have a regular working pattern. It would also be complicated if you moved teams (something we’re keen to encourage more of) and they had a different working pattern.
Being in at the same time should mean we'll be less vulnerable to "proximity bias" - the risk that people in the office more get more "face time" and visibility with leadership, will be perceived as better workers and are more likely to advance their careers. We're all in at the same time, including senior leaders.
It will be easier to organise in person all team events when people come in on the same days, such as communities of practice sessions, brown bags and so on. Our current plan is to use Wednesday afternoons for these kinds of activities and maybe Wednesday also become the new Friday and we schedule our regular (and infamous) social activities then too 😊
It’s worth pointing out we already have a flexible working hours policy which allows colleagues to start early and leave early (or visa versa) and two weeks a year you can work from anywhere (assuming you have an internet connection of course).
