Developing Exceptional Hybrid Connectivity

Since 2020, Nathan Trust has run a hybrid working model. We have allowed employees to work @Home, @Office or @Flex. In most cases, people work @Flex but because we want the best talent, we currently have 20% of the workforce working @Home. 

Commercially, this has worked well but we need to look beyond that metric and to ensure people do not feel disconnected. The data from our internal employee surveys and several ones done by our peers show that we need to innovate on our hybrid model. 

1. Be intentional: We are not planning to require employees to return to the office, but we understand the importance of purposefully fostering connections among our team. To facilitate this, we will designate specific in-office Connection Days, allowing team members to come together and interact.

2. Make it easy: We aim to simplify and add enjoyment to the process of forming personal connections. Tools such as Teams and BambooHR can be instrumental in achieving this.

3. Fairness: as we have such a high % of the workforce either @Home or @Flex, we need to be fair in our approach and enable the remote population to come together both in-person and remotely. 

4. Sustainability: Nathan Trust aims to be net zero by 2030. Therefore, our goal is to enhance interpersonal connections while reducing our carbon footprint. We are implementing travel guidelines for in-person gatherings that will adapt and grow alongside Nathan Trust. 

Some of the more traditional ways of driving connection, like hosting large, company-wide summits, are easy to do, but don’t align with our objective to build a high-performing, sustainable and equitable company. How we’ll build sustainable, scalable solutions that complement our hybrid working model is a critical piece to our strategy.

• To create a company that future generations will admire, it's our duty to assess, confront, and diminish our carbon footprint, a task we approach with utmost seriousness. Regularly flying our employees around is neither cost-effective nor practical in our pursuit of bold climate action.

• The data indicates that isolated interactions are significantly less impactful than consistent opportunities for cultivating deeper connections. We are committed to creating enduring solutions and relationships that can expand with us, uniting people across various locations and work styles.

• Our company culture and the development of connections are not confined to specific locations. We aim to promote fairness by devising methods that facilitate both physical interactions in the office and connections within remote and virtual communities. Our approach doesn't involve replicating every aspect for each work preference. While our initiatives may vary, it's essential that everyone, irrespective of their location, has the opportunity to engage in something meaningful and establish personal relationships.

Further efforts are required to solidify the basis of our hybrid work model, beginning with enhancing connections. By bridging the gap in connection and uniting our employees in significant ways, we pave the way for a stronger sense of purpose, belonging, and alignment among our team. We believe that the key to nurturing a successful hybrid culture lies in harnessing the potential of connection.