Businesses encouraged to adopt hybrid working
As new Covid variants endanger the UK and the world’s progress tackling the pandemic, new and continued hybrid working models continue to be at the forefront of different industries.
Shining a spotlight on the industry
Monday, 20 Dec 2021 13:31 GMT
PixelMax has encouraged business to thinking about the impact of not embracing hybrid working
For the print and wide-format sectors new working models, locations, and ways of adapting to global challenges have been a huge influence to those in the industry.
While in person working is the backbone of the likes of production plants and retail stores, many of those in administration, sales, or management roles have been moved to remote or hybrid models to deal with changing restrictions and health scares.
Though the true impact of a variant such as Omicron is yet unclear, regardless, many companies will not want to be plagued by large numbers of staff out of the business with illness, or team members afflicted by common ailments.
British technology company PixelMax, based in Manchester, has been working to make virtual workplaces more of a reality.
With the emergence of new restrictions, the company has commented on the dramatic change brought on industries since 2020, when businesses, governments, and schools were all forced to work with programmes such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
In the release PixelMax states: “With this dramatic new way of working came issues of connectivity, ‘Zoom fatigue’ and working in a 2D environment, not to mention the mental health issues that came pre-packaged with this imperfect way of business and workplace communication.”
The company adds: “What this did do, was open our eyes to the benefits of remote working and greater work-life balance. It meant not spending two hours commuting every day, saving hundreds of pounds in car parking, fuel, and travel costs, all of which contribute on a daily basis to global warming and climate change.
"At the same time, air quality in the majority of cities drastically improved during the lockdown period and air pollution was at record-low levels in 2020.”
PixelMax’s latest product offering is its virtual workplace, which makes hybrid working more fun and engaging.
2021 has allowed many sectors to re-open and continue to adopt new hybrid ways of working depending on team members and the work they do in the company.
Zunaid Rahman, marketing manager at Duplo UK says: “Due to the culture of the company and the collaborative way we work, it meant we could be agile and flexible enough to react to each change as and when they occur, in some cases before the government announcements, without compromising our approach or reaction times to both our customers and employees alike.”
As well as new variant, the current focuses on sustainability as well as increasing demand for workforces, supplies, and overall staff well-being has meant many companies in print are now making big investments in restructuring their businesses.
Rahman adds: “With the proper systems in place, we’ve been able to complete operations across all departments. Due to the nature of our marketing team, we’ve been able to work from home very flexibly, but to complete a lot of our tasks such as product videos and sample work for customers, we still need to be present in the office.
"Many of us still prefer to work from the office due to the collaborative nature of our work.”
The comment from Rahman highlights the importance of a hybrid model which companies like PixelMax encourage with their work on the new virtual workplace metaverse.
The company claims over 84% of the workforce want a hybrid model in the future, with 52% wanting to work two to three days remotely. Research such as this has led to their creation of a virtual platform that can integrate work applications, as well as well-being videos, and food ordering systems.
Both PixelMax and Duplo have made it clear physical interaction are key, both wanting the continuing use of real-world offices. But with the embracing of new work methods and technology, hybrid working can be achieved far more easily than ever before.
Tags:
