Helping Graduates Thrive in the World of Hybrid Working

Whilst many employers are encouraging people back in to the office, hybrid working looks very much here to stay.  

In our most recent ISE Student Development Survey we found that on average 72% of employers asked graduates to work at home one or two days a week, while almost a quarter of organisations asked graduates to work from home at least three days a week.  

However, as you can see from the below table, the number of days graduates are working at home varies. Hybrid working will mean different things to graduates depending on which sector and what roles they’re entering into.

So, what does it mean for graduates to be entering into a hybrid world of work, and how can we help them prepare to thrive in this new way of working?

Benefits of Hybrid Working

The recent Prospects Early Careers Survey highlights that graduates feel there are many advantages in working in a hybrid way. One of the most referenced benefits being the increased flexibility that hybrid working can offer. The autonomy to manage role and schedule is seen as a great advantage and offers enhanced work life balance.

Possibly unsurprisingly given the cost-of-living crisis, another advantage cited was the savings in time and money that hybrid working offers. Although some referenced increased utility bills when considering the impact of hybrid working, many felt that the savings they could make by not being in the office every day was a big advantage for them.

Some respondents also saw advantages in terms of taking care of their mental health and wellbeing. The ability to flex work schedules to allow for a regular exercise routine was one benefit noted. While others suggested that being able to get more sleep due to the lack of commute meant they felt less tired when at work.

Challenges of Hybrid Working

Whilst it’s clear that most graduates do see benefits in a hybrid working pattern, they also see challenges both on a personal and a professional level.

Feelings of isolation and finding it hard to switch off from work were two themes from the Prospects’ survey that graduates felt were challenges for working in a hybrid way and were having a negative impact on their mental health.

From a professional perspective, many graduates were finding it harder to communicate and collaborate with colleagues, which was leading to a lack of team cohesion. And for some, hybrid working was impacting their productivity, either due to the office being too noisy to concentrate or there being too many distractions at home to be able to effectively focus.

There were also some challenges cited in terms of knowing when to switch off, and the blur between work and home making some graduates work longer hours and feel an expectation to be “always on”. Again, this was felt to have a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing.

Employers' Focus

 Mental health and wellbeing is a key area of focus for many graduate employers. Compared to previous years, 64% of employers in ISE’s Student Development Survey said that the number of graduates and apprentices with mental health issues has increased.

We asked employers what they were doing in response to this and found that 88% now provide dedicated mental health support and counselling to their early career hires. We have also seen an increase in advice on developing a preventative approach to mental health, which take into account factors such as hybrid working.

Employers are also looking at the design of their onboarding and development programmes to ensure they are effective in supporting graduates to thrive in a hybrid working environment.

There has been a move away from fully online approaches to onboarding and development, with only 1% of employers believing that fully online delivery provides the best experience for graduates. While almost half (49%) of employers said that development programmes that were delivered through a hybrid approach offered the highest quality experience, so long as virtual training was carefully designed.

A trend to watch is that a third of employers reported that fully face to face onboarding and development activities offered the best experience for their graduates.

A lack of skills and behaviours graduates need to thrive in the hybrid world of work is a concern to employers.

With just over half (54%) of employers telling us their graduates arrive career ready, the decline in work experiences during the pandemic has had a clear impact. When asked about the most reliable predictors of graduates’ skills and attitudes, most employers (72%) agreed that graduates who completed an internship or placement arrived with better skills and attitudes than other graduates.

The areas where employers are most likely to have concerns are with self-awareness (35% of employers reported less self-awareness in their graduates than was expected) and resilience (30% of employers observed less resilience in their graduates than they expected).

Employers frequently cited a lack of self-awareness as the cause of wider workplace challenges. They also believed that for new hires to successfully participate in training, they need to have a realistic view of their own capabilities.

Critical Skills

From both a graduate and an employer’s perspectives, we can see that there are several areas that if honed will help a graduate to thrive in a hybrid working environment. We will look at what we consider to be the four critical skills now.

1. Self-awareness

Self-awareness is critical for graduates to be able to thrive in a hybrid working environment. The ability to ask for feedback and learn from experiences can support accelerated personal and professional growth. While being more aware of one’s own mental health and wellbeing needs, monitoring and managing them as well as asking for help as needed will enable them to thrive personally and professionally.

As we have seen in previous sections, building self-awareness will also help graduates maximise their development through effective engagement on training and development activities, and help them become strong team players and collaborate effectively with others both when in the office as well as when working at home.

2. Self-direction

The need for self-direction is acutely apparent in the hybrid working environment. Increased levels of flexibility and autonomy mean graduates need to find ways of working that can ensure they are productive and are managing their time efficiently both when in the office and when working at home. A consequence of strong self-direction may also be a good work life balance and improved mental health and wellbeing.

Graduates need strong communication, organisational, and time management skills, as well as focus and determination, to effectively self-direct their work. It can be challenging and take time to develop these skills in a hybrid working environment but the personal and professional benefits of being able to work in a self-directed way are worth the effort.

3. Resilience

Resilience is a key strength for graduates to develop to thrive not only in the hybrid working environment, but in today’s world of work where change is a constant. The ability to receive constructive feedback, to overcome setbacks and to adapt and continue to progress is imperative to success both now and in the future.

While there is much a graduate can do to build their own resilience, employers also need to support them through strong empathetic leadership and the creation of psychological safety so mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn and not seen as failures.

4. Communication 

Strong written and verbal communication skills have been deemed essential to thriving in a hybrid working environment. Strong communication skills will help graduates to engage with co-workers, collaborate efficiently on projects, have impact in their work, and build trusted relationships both when in the office and when working at home.

Honed communication skills will also help a graduate’s personal and professional development and growth, especially when combined with self-awareness. It will help them understand and use feedback to progress and also help them articulate challenges and ask for support in more effective ways.  

There are many communication channels available to graduates in a hybrid working environment and it can sometimes be difficult for graduates to gauge which channel is most appropriate for each communication need.

Employers can support graduates in deciphering which channels are deemed professionally appropriate by their organisation, with many now offering this guidance as part of the onboarding or development programme.

The Future of Hybrid Working

There are many benefits and challenges graduates will find in a hybrid working environment and those may look different depending on the sector and role they enter into.

There are things the employer can do to help their graduates navigate and thrive, and there are skills and behaviours graduates can seek to hone to help their development and success in a hybrid working environment.

There are also interesting trends to watch such as the rise in employers asking employees to return to the office, and the importance employers are increasingly placing on in person experiences to help graduates learn and integrate effectively into their new organization and careers.

All of this impacts how graduates will thrive as the world of work continues to evolve and adapt to new disruptions and innovations.

About the author

After graduating with a degree in philosophy, Georgia started her first career on the Harrods Retail Executive Training Programme. Fast forward a few years and she fell into a new career in HR, specialising in talent acquisition, and more recently learning and development. Georgia has been privileged to work with a variety of employers in different industries and sectors, including the Bank of England and Deloitte. She is passionate about all things talent, employability, and future of work, and loves hearing about what others are doing, sharing good practice, and learning. Georgia particularly enjoys the data side of things, understanding what the data is telling us, and translating that into trends and tangible actions.