Technology to Connect Hybrid Teams
Published: 31/03/2025
Free trial
See for yourself how you can save time and money. Enter your details below for a free 30 day no-obligation trial.
This article explores digital solutions capable of connecting hybrid teams. We will also discuss process optimisation and tips on maximising your team’s performance in a hybrid environment.
The most prominent challenge hybrid teams face is the communication gap. Face-to-face interactions are commonly associated with smoother operations, streamlined processes, and easy collaborations. Fully remote working is great for certain types of businesses; thus, hybrid rests somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, this makes it particularly tricky as it poses the challenge of connecting teams that work in different environments yet regularly cross paths in real life.
The good news is that there are many solutions in the digital marketplace that aim to help companies bridge those gaps and fully embrace hybrid working. However, with the variety of tools available, it may be tricky to differentiate what you need. In this article, we hope to help you choose the right solutions.
The key pitfalls of hybrid work are communication issues. These can be personal or professional, as things get lost when connecting over media. Often, this leads to inefficiencies such as poor task distribution, repetitions, data inaccuracies, and stalled processes, which affect the team's performance as a whole.
Finding the balance and common ground between remote and in-person teams can be costly, especially for smaller companies with little time to spare. The wrong tools can also hinder you financially and progress-wise, often without you realising where the problem lies. In theory, connecting hybrid teams is easy, but it is a lot more complicated in practice.
As mentioned above, incorrect tools can become a significant problem in a hybrid environment. But how do you choose the right ones? In this part, we will talk about what software is essential for any hybrid team’s success.
It goes without saying that the digital tools that allow your teams to communicate and collaborate regardless of their physical location are a must. Since hybrid working entails connecting the teams and providing an environment where they can work together seamlessly, digitisation is the only route. It covers the basics, such as instant messengers and virtual meeting platforms, but also spreads long past that. What most companies don’t take into account is that in-team communication isn’t always direct and sometimes intertwines with collaboration, too. Hybrid teams are still not seen as traditional, so when forming your approach, it’s vital to be flexible and think outside the box. For instance, process automation should be considered a tool that ties into both aspects.
It is a form of indirect communication that is also falling under the umbrella of collaborations. An example of that would be an automatic task re-assignment. Once one team member marks their task done, the system automatically relocates it to the next person on the chain, additionally notifying them it’s their time to take over. This removes friction and wait times, reduces the risk of task repetition and generally streamlines the process.
When all is aimed at productivity and efficiency, employee engagement tends to be forgotten. However, in hybrid teams, it is yet another area that requires an innovative approach. Little day-to-day interactions like watercooler conversations or after-work drinks may seem like they don’t contribute to the overall progress, but they build relationships between employees, leading to them working closer together and communicating smoother.
Needless to say, it is impossible when your team is scattered across different locations. Instead, you can introduce an alternative approach using digital tools. For example, you can host virtual happy hour or other non-work events via team-building platforms like Slack or Zoom. Consider implementing a feedback system too, where the employees can share their insights, suggestions and questions. Finally, you can add recognition and reward systems that not only offer benefits to employees but can be turned into fun, engaging events.
Adopting the right tools is only half the job. Utilising them, however, is the other side of the coin and determines your success. It’s essential to tune your software up with not just your business but also your teams. The hybrid office will flourish and exceed your expectations when everything is in sync.
The hybrid model is mainly known for its flexibility. However, most of us still heavily rely on the office-bound mindset and, therefore, feel discouraged from wandering out of our comfort zone. To fully embrace the benefits of hybrid working and utilise your solutions to the full extent, it’s essential to nurture a culture of flexibility. A good place to start would be to let employees choose the days they want to work from the office instead of tying them to a specific one. Some solutions would help your workers do it themselves without the risk of exceeding office capacity.
There are many tools out there that cover various aspects of a team’s time management that are not only tailored for hybrid teams but also promote the workers' autonomy. For example, some shift scheduling platforms enable employees to swap shifts with one another or find a replacement in case they can’t make it. In other words, some operations that would previously require the involvement of the management are now independent, therefore promoting flexibility and reducing the number of steps required.
Finally, the secret to genuinely leveraging your hybrid team’s performance is not just employing the right tools but also ensuring they’re connected to each other. An interlinked digital toolbox is the glue that holds hybrid teams together. It’s a centralised hub housing all data that is easily accessible, therefore serving purposes of alignment and transparency. Given your workers can’t always speak face-to-face and data requests via email can cause delays, this is a fail-proof approach.
Additionally, removing department siloes will uncover new opportunities for data will consistently be put in different contexts, therefore acquiring new values. Operations such as data transfers will also be quicker and require less human involvement, saving your team time and driving efficiency. Finally, interlinked tools constantly record actionable data that will aid your decision-making and further business development.
The costs involved in developing a hybrid team naturally raise the question of whether it’s worth an investment in terms of its longevity. As a working setup that emerged as a way to ease into easing post-pandemic restrictions, hybrid is often debated to be a fad. If that’s the case, should companies continue pursuing it?
There are many debates regarding the future of hybrid teams. As more people report ‘hybrid fatigue,’ companies prompt their teams to return to the office permanently. Those who have found this setup effective, however, are finding new ways to enhance it, be it through new company policies or the technology they employ. So, will we stick with hybrid working being the new normal, or is it just a fad?
At Timesheet Portal, we believe hybrid teams are here to stay. Although there are many challenges and nuances stemming from this work model, it’s a more employee-accommodating alternative to in-office working. Those who prefer being physically present are given such an opportunity, whereas those preferring remote work are met halfway. Hybrid working also allows companies to tap into bigger talent pools as the location no longer restricts their options. With the model still being relatively new, we are still testing the waters, experimenting, and looking for new perspectives. All this results in optimisation and further analysis, leading to the evolution of the approach in the long term. The hybrid of the future may look nothing like what we have today, but we are looking forward to seeing its new form.
While one of the biggest challenges of hybrid working is connecting the teams, it doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right tools that promote communication and collaboration, you can quickly build an efficiency-driven environment. However, thinking outside the box and considering indirect communication, such as process automation, is essential to creating a genuinely effective hybrid office. That said, you should also employ solutions aimed at employee engagement to foster personal relationships, too.
But the tools alone are not enough to ensure your hybrid teams are connected and run at their full capacity. They should also link with each other, creating a centralised system that’s easy for everyone to access. This will naturally contribute towards improved communication and collaboration, which we’ve already outlined as crucial. Additionally, you should put effort into building a culture of flexibility and constantly aim to optimise your work environment further. That way, you will bring your company to flourish in hybrid and play a key role in its further evolution. It is still an unexplored realm, and you can help shape it.
Ready to take that step? Let us accompany you.