Companies have now been experimenting with hybrid work policies for well over a year. It’s been an exercise in adaptability, and both employees and leaders alike have had to embrace a new normal.  

What we know for sure is that hybrid and work-from-home policies aren’t going anywhere. Employees love the flexibility and work-life balance that comes from hybrid work, and they find it easier to be productive when they can choose where to work each day. And employers have been able to save on real estate costs without experiencing a dip in productivity. 

However, smart leaders take the time to measure the impact of major changes. Is their hybrid workplace policy working as intended? Is there anything to adjust? Has the company struck the right balance between days in the office and days working from home? 

Since everyone is experiencing this major shift for the first time, it’s not always easy to know how to measure the success of your hybrid office model. Let’s walk through it. 

How can employers measure the success of hybrid work? 

Measuring the impact of hybrid work is about figuring out what you want this policy to achieve, and finding out if these goals are being met. Then, you can take your findings, implement changes, and see how you can improve on each goal. 

Here’s how to do it:

1. Establish goals + employee engagement KPIs for a hybrid workplace

Each company has different reasons for implementing a hybrid workplace policy. What are you trying to accomplish? Here are a few workplace engagement metrics for you to consider in your analysis.

• Employee engagement, success, and job satisfaction: Measuring employee engagement is a process that involves several employee satisfaction metrics and methods of investigation. You can measure how happy and actualized your employees are by monitoring and comparing year-over-year attrition, year-over-year promotions, average company Glassdoor ratings, and other benchmarks specific to your industry and company structure.

• Team collaboration: Especially in an era of increased asynchronous collaboration, it’s important to keep an eye on how well individuals and teams are working together. Team collaboration can be measured by surveying employees about ease of collaboration and connection within teams and across teams, as well as measuring employee engagement during in-person and hybrid meetings.  

• Productivity: Productivity can be challenging to measure internally. It’s simpler, and often more effective, for team leads to measure if their team is meeting their quarterly and yearly goals. But if you’re looking to measure productivity from a company-wide standpoint, it’s best to engage a platform built to measure productivity. 

• Value of benefits + perks: What kind of perks did you implement with your hybrid policy — and are people using them? Measure the utilization rates of employee perks like coworking space stipends, commute cost coverage, meal delivery gift cards, in-office gyms, and any other benefits you’ve added along with your new hybrid workplace. 

• Sustainability: How has your company’s carbon footprint changed since implementing a hybrid work model? Find out by measuring by square footage used and energy used to heat and cool the space. Compare current levels with pre-COVID levels. You can also factor in the amount of employee driving reduced by cutting commutes, as well as the number of flights reduced by taking events like kickoffs hybrid or remote. 

• Real estate impact: How has a hybrid model impacted the cost of running an in-person business? Did you right-size your office space (meaning lower rent) but also pay to renovate the smaller space to work for your team’s new reality? Measure by comparing the costs to rent, operate, and manage a smaller space adapted to a hybrid model.

• Company favorability: This is one of the talent management KPIs that you’ll want to focus on if you hoped your hybrid policy would help you attract more, and better, talent. You can measure the favorability of your company among job applicants by measuring the number of job applications for open roles (and comparing it to the number of applications you were regularly receiving before your hybrid policy). You can also conduct social listening to see what people are saying about your company on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and more, and also consult your company’s Glassdoor metrics.

2. Prioritize your KPIs and set baselines for all workplace metrics

How do you measure the success of hybrid work? Focus on what you really need to know. 

Measuring every metric isn’t the right approach — take the time to focus on one to three areas you want to improve. Don’t try to boil the ocean: get specific in seeing what you want to achieve with your hybrid policy and measuring how well it’s going.

Each metric will require a different approach. Some are simple to measure, like working with your workplace experience and business operations teams to measure spend on facilities year over year. Others, like measuring productivity, will require the use of a vetted company analytics platform.  

In either case, it’s important to set baselines and measure the same metrics on a regular basis to actually monitor progress. Seeing that only 20 people left the company this year is great — but coupled with the knowledge that the previous year saw 40 people leave actually shows the impact of new policies and changes.

We also believe that regularly surveying and talking to employees is just as important as seeking out hard numbers. 

3. Monitor your workplace metrics on an ongoing basis, and include employees on the team to implement changes.

Measure your most important metrics on a monthly and quarterly basis. If measuring any of your primary metrics has yielded less-than-perfect results, don’t just leave it to the executives to fix. Include the perspective and ideas of your employees — they’re the ones living and breathing your company culture every day.   

How the most successful hybrid workplaces leverage technology to improve employee engagement

Workplace experience teams have spent the past three years making changes, learning from setbacks, and embracing the new in order to provide the best flexible workplace for their employees. Ensuring employees have access to the best hybrid meeting technology can make running a hybrid workplace — and encouraging collaboration — infinitely easier. Plus, digging into the analytics of various workplace technologies, like hybrid meeting technology and occupancy sensors, can complement the financial metrics you use to measure overall company success.