EMBRACING THE HYBRID WORK MODEL
The recent COVID-19 catastrophe brought inadvertent experiments of working from home,
including Petronas Corporation. After three years, the workforce's demand for a flexible
working arrangement that combines office and remote work continues to increase. With the
hybrid work model becoming a reality in this modern era, the company must reshape its
culture and design a hybrid work plan to benefit both employees and the organisation. It is
integral to the business's success but is often categorised by the Human Resource Department
as beneficial to employees, resulting in not having this as a permanent company policy.
The hybrid work model refers to the flexibility of the days and times the employees can go
into the office or work remotely. As the company strives to meet business goals, workforce
productivity is crucial in helping navigate achieving these goals and often, an organization is
burdened with employee’s work-life balance while ensuring effective and efficient
performance is met by the company (Austin-Egole, Ifeyinwa Stella, Iheriohanma, E.B.J., &
Nwokorie, 2020). This proposal aims to highlight the general principle of the hybrid work
model, its impact and benefits for both employee productivity and the company’s
performance.
Petronas Corporation must find ways to develop and properly manage a hybrid work model
that will produce a positive result from the business perspective, including their employees'
welfare. As the workforce continues to evolve, hybrid work will also play an integral role in
the future. Hence, Petronas must match both employees' and the company’s needs, and start
to build a hybrid work model that would improve both productivity and performance.
Annotated Bibliography
Austin-Egole, Ifeyinwa Stella, S., Iheriohanma, E.B.J., & Nwokorie, C. (2020). Flexible
Working Arrangments and Organizational Performance: IOSR Journal Of Humanities
And Social Science, 50-59.
The authors evaluated the difference between employee-driven and employer-driven
hybrid work models and their impact on employees and employers. Their article
repeatedly reiterated that employees fulfilled with their functions would reflect
positive organisational performance. The information presented in this article would
be beneficial for Petronas Corporation to be able to design a hybrid model policy.
Baird, M., & Cooper, R. (2015). Bringing the “right to request” flexible working
arrangements to life: from policies to practices. Emerald Insight.
The authors focused on flexible working arrangements, specifically how the
increasing request for this flexibility became a practice. They conducted a case study
that resulted in a knowledge deficit between the employees and managers. This article
will provide some insights into why the hybrid working model is unsuccessful for
other companies and this should be an eye-opener for Petronas to consider during
implementation.
Kossek, E. E., Gettings, P., & Kaumidi, M. (2021, September 28). The Future of Flexibility at
Work. Harvard Business Review.
The authors focused on two approaches to what flexibility at work looks like. Their
article advocated a balanced approach that would benefit both employees and
employers. However, they emphasised the company's struggles in implementing this
work model rather than the benefits.
O’Connor, L. T., & Cech, E. A. (2018). Your Flex Work Culture Does not Help Employees If
It Hurts Their Careers. Harvard Business Review.
The authors explained in this article that thinking of a flexible working model is for
working mothers only, which resulted in bias and might cause misunderstandings
between employees and management. According to the authors, the management
should lead by example in modelling the policy that should apply to all employees
regardless of status.
Rodríguez-Sánchez, & José-Luis. (2020). Investing Time and Resources for Work–Life
Balance: The Effect on Talent Retention. International Journal of Environmental
Research and Public Health.
In this article, the authors emphasised the importance of work-life balance strategies
that directly impact employee retention. They presented a clear framework to justify
the equality of Work-Life Balance Policies and Talent Management. This is an
essential insight to this research as it would lay down arguments from the employee's
perspective.
Soga, L. R. (2022). Unmasking the other face of flexible working practices: A systematic
literature review. Journal of Business Research.
The author of this article focused on the downside of flexible working practices in
business. He emphasised the hidden cost of this arrangement and the implications to
the workforce, management, technology, organisations and society. This will add
information to Petronas as it also mentioned digital technology being one of the
downfall factors, which is quite surprising to many
Thompson, P. (2008). "The business benefits of flexible working". Strategic HR Review.
As per the author, the hybrid work model is often branded by management as
beneficial to employees only. The article provided a strategic implementation model
which companies can contemplate, including Petronas Corporation.