Is hybrid actually the WORST way to work?

Except, of course, as Churchill might have said, for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…

Hybrid is so wildly popular that even leaders who hate it have mostly conceded defeat and are sticking with it. So much so, that many tell me it’s sorted, done, old news.

Yet burnout numbers are on the rise, the milk in the big fridge goes off every week—and struggling performers everywhere are shrinking deeper into their sofas, wondering where to turn.

This week, I’m talking to Sam Barber. She and I have been running workshops on making hybrid work better, and these are some of the issues we’re hearing about:

☎️ Managers are struggling

🙅‍♂️ Poor performers are being exited rather than helped to improve

🏠 Offices lack the right tech—home set-ups are increasingly better

😡 Rage-inducing hot-desking policies

🪴 Poor use of office space

📧 Too many incoming communications to do your actual job

🎀 Weaker ties into networks and connections

🧠 Cognitive overload

Which (if any) are you battling most and what have we missed?

Sam’s final thought is one worth noting: nothing new happens without putting in the work and good communication, be it marriage, setting up the home, or agreeing a half-term holiday everyone wants.

Next week 

…is half-term. Based on at least one request (that wasn’t from my mum), we’re going to rerun something from the archive as we canoe the kids and dog down a river—and wonder why we didn’t just book a spa hotel! 

Christine