Designing a hybrid work culture that will last

Written by 
Jay Melone
 and 
  —  
October 25, 2021
Two adults working from home and looking at their computers

Hybrid work is here to stay. And when one person is remote, the whole team needs to support remote collaboration. It’s time to design these environments more strategically. 

Companies from Ford to Target and Capital One, are standardizing the hybrid work model and they’re just the first wave of this growing shift. 

If you’re not re-evaluating and restructuring your team to fit this hybrid model, you’re swimming against the current. Moreover, if you’re not leveraging human-centered design principles when implementing your hybrid work model, you risk falling behind your competitors. 

Remote work isn’t for everyone (or every industry), but for employees who’ve embraced this new model for over a year, there’s really no turning back. They’ve settled into life-altering adjustments that reduced their costs of living, decreased exhausting and expensive commutes, and gave them the chance to spend more time with family, or take care of family members — young and old. 

Forcing these employees back to work is just pushing forward what NPR and others are dubbing “The Great Resignation,” which saw a record number of Americans quit their jobs in recent months.

Are some of your remote folks kicking back at the beach or watching TV all day instead of working? Potentially. At least, that’s the fear employers may be grappling with. But enforcing a blanket policy across your entire workforce to return to the office just to protect against this lazy sub-culture is even lazier. 

It also overshadows all of the unique, and invaluable benefits of remote work. In fact, according to a PWC survey, 71% of employees and 81% of employers found remote work to be a success and that productivity improved over time. By designing your hybrid work models with human-centered intention, these numbers will only increase. 

Building a hybrid ecosystem inspired by people

If you’re a leader who believes that your people are your most important investment — and you want your investment to last — you have to commit to designing a “back-to-office” model that works for everyone. It’s not enough to make a structural change, you have to focus on crafting a hybrid ecosystem for your employees to optimize the productivity benefits that hybrid offers. 

A successful hybrid work model creates an ecosystem in which your employees productivity can flourish.


Here’s where breaking out of our echo chambers by using human-centered design (HCD) to reimagine our future workforces can help. Here are three ideas to get you started:

1. Inspiration

Remember, you and a small group of individuals on your team don’t accurately represent your global workforce. To design an ecosystem for many, start by breaking down your workforce into subsets: by department, organization, or team. Focus on these cohorts one at a time. Visualize this by creating representative employee personas — this will help you and other leaders align on what’s most important.

Next, qualify these ideas by sharing them with your people. Ask them for feedback — more importantly, be ready to listen to their feedback, free from your biases and expectations based on your mental models. Treat feedback as a gift.

Related: A complete guide to running hybrid meetings

2. Ideation

You’re now equipped to begin sharing working ideas about your proposed new structures and how it will all be communicated. These are your working prototypes. Share them with employees and ask for their additional ideas and insights. Even better, co-create them with your teams. 

No matter the ideation approach you take, the importance is listening and incorporating, while balancing what’s important to the business.

3. Implementation

After iterating and validating your return-to-office plan (much like in human-centered design), begin communicating and implementing your setup in small batches — think team by team. 

Continue to request feedback on how these changes are working out for your team. Empower them to suggest improvements and voice what’s working well. 

Continue to evolve your hybrid processes

Simultaneously to implementing your new structure, continue to learn, iterate, and communicate. Co-evolve with your workforce — maintain a shared journey with them, or risk losing them to companies and leaders that saw them and heard them.

Ready to jump head-first into hybrid? Download MURAL's Hybrid Work Guide for tips on navigating collaboration, clarity, inclusion, and engagement from a distance.

Can't decide?

We've got you covered with our icebreaker generator.

Generate icebreaker

...Click button to generate icebreaker

Copy
What day in your life would you like to relive?
Describe yourself in three words.
What was your dream job as a kid?
If you could be a character in any movie, what character and what movie would it be?
What three items would you bring with you on a deserted island?
What would you title your biography?
A genie grants you one wish; what do you wish for?
What is the best concert or festival you have ever been to?
If you could make an office rule that everyone had to follow for a day, what would it be?
If you invented an ice cream flavor, what ingredients would it have, and what would it be called?
What was your last Netflix (or other streaming platform) binge?
Which two companies would you like to be sponsored by?
What is your favorite breakfast cereal?
If you could add a holiday to the calendar, what would it be and when?
If you could organize a team retreat, where would it be?
Who has influenced your work ethic the most?
If you could swap roles with anyone for one day, who would it be?
If you were a genre of music, what would it be?
What movie has the best soundtrack?
What is your go-to karaoke song?
If you could name a band, what would it be called?
Which band would you join? And what would your role be?
Which artist or musician would you like to meet?
What song brings back childhood memories?
Would you rather spend a weekend in a tropical paradise or a snow haven?
Would you rather sail or 'van life' your way around the world?
Would you rather speak 10 languages or play 10 instruments?
Would you rather only read the end of every book or always forget the story’s ending?
Would you rather have slow internet or always forget your passwords?
Would you rather have every traffic light turn green or always have the best parking spot?
Would you rather be a whale or a lion?
Would you rather get free plane tickets or free accommodations for the rest of your life?
Would you rather be able to control time or fly?
Would you rather always be two hours early or 20 minutes late?
Why do we create art?
Where do you find inspiration?
If you could invite anyone in the world, historical or contemporary, who would be the three guests at your dinner table?
Who is your favorite travel buddy or group?
What is your favorite scene from a movie?
When was the last time you tried something for the first time?
When do you feel the most courageous?
What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?
What’s your favorite holiday celebration?
What three things would you do if you were invisible?
What piece of advice would you give to your 16-year-old self?
What subject do you wish was taught in every school?
What is your superpower?
What is your favorite travel hack?
What is your proudest achievement?
What is your favorite travel story?
What is your favorite season?
What is your DJ name?
What is the most underrated city you have ever visited?
What is the best piece of feedback you have ever received?
What is the best prank you’ve experienced or planned?
What travel experience, city, or country impacted you the most?
What are the top three items on your bucket list?
What are the three values you treasure the most in a friendship?
Tell us your favorite joke.
Tell us a weird fact you happen to know for no reason.
If your pet could talk, what would they say?
If your life was captured in the “expectation vs. reality” meme, what would the two pictures be?
If you could take one prop from any movie set, what would it be?
If you had to sleep on a beach anywhere in the world, where would it be?
If you could organize a team retreat, where would it be?
If you could live in a different country for a year, which country would you choose?
Do you over or under-decorate for the holidays?
Name five things that make you happy
Do you consider yourself a lemon or a lime? Why?
If you could know the answer to any question, what would that question be?

About the author

About the authors

Jay Melone

Jay Melone

Principal Facilitator
Jay Melone is the Founder of New Haircut, an innovation strategy firm and global leader in problem framing and design sprints.