Tech-train your teams for a better hybrid work environment

If disruption had a face, it would look a lot like the year 2020. The year that will be remembered through history as the one that upended our worlds, supposedly for a long term. 

Work-wise, the disruptions were experienced the most. 

Before we knew it, hybrid – a mix of remote and office set up – became an integral part of our work culture and one year on, it continues to be so. A year after we got comfortable working remotely and companies decided to be flexible about work locations, employees across the world are still expressing their desire to continue with the hybrid model of working. 

As per a recent survey conducted by Zoom, one of the largest video communication companies of our time, about two-thirds (65%) of professionals have said that a hybrid work environment is their ideal work model. 

This has encouraged more and more employers to stick with the hybrid model to have the best onsite and offsite work culture while being able to stem the spread of the virus.

However, if the comforts that hybrid model brings about are plenty, there is no dearth of challenges that it gives rise to. One of the challenges in this context has always been the aspect of cybersecurity. 

Ensuring a safe network to work with while employees log in from different locations at different time zones has been a task of great responsibility for chief information and security officers across the world.

This is why the conversation around having secure hybrid workplaces has gained grounds and reached the top IT and corporate forums in the past one year. So what is it that you as an employee should do to safeguard your hybrid work environment. Here are three simple ideas to explore:

1. Tech-train your workforce: A report from IBM stated that around 95 per cent of cybersecurity breaches occur due to human error, or are most of the time, merely a mistake. This means if your employees are not aware of what a malicious site, or link, or message can do, they won’t know how to avoid it or if to report it.

Training employees isn’t just important, it’s indispensable for survival of an organisation in these times. Training is the only weapon that can create a culture of security within your organisation, especially in a hybrid model where you are not physically connected at all times.

2. Conduct live-scenario focussed workshops: Talk to your IT experts and from time to time conduct workshops that exemplify the threats of the online world through real-life scenarios. It is understandable that not everyone in your organisation will comprehend technology as well as your IT or the technical staff does.

Conducting live-scenario focussed workshops or drills is an easier way to communicate than just writing memos with heavy technical jargons that might not make sense to your creative team.

3. Have an instinctive communication platform: While all this is done, make sure you are able to communicate your concern about the safety of your employees through the right communication channels.

Work on creating a foolproof communication network that keeps the information constantly flowing and also has a good scope of feedback in case your employees have questions. Open and two-way communication is the key whatever your workforce be. 

To conclude, a right blend of training, technology, and communication system makes hybrid a sustainable reality. Hybrid allows you to continue with a work environment that promotes flexibility and efficiency, and that is only possible if security is prioritised. It’s high time we accept hybrid as a work model to stay and prepare ourselves for it.