How Hybrid Teams Are Critical To Growth Posted on : Dec 02 - 2020

The workforce is in a continual shift as markets change, companies grow and refocus, and external factors shape how, when and even where we work. Because of these considerations, and countless others, companies need to be agile in their approach to the composition of their workforce. Hybrid workforces build on this idea, by creating teams that are a mixture of full-time, long-term employees and short-term contract and freelance workers.

As we'll see below, this mixture of team members, as well as the different ways of thinking, problem-solving, and areas of focus they provide, will give companies the agile workforce they need. Let's see why hybrid teams are critical to success for businesses today.

Hyper-specialization is not necessarily a constant need.

It can be challenging to staff a company properly, regardless of the size. With continually shifting needs, and increasing specialization in many domains, what is needed one month may not be needed the next. Full-time employees need to be kept utilized in order to provide maximum value, so roles with highly specialized and rarely used skill sets pose a unique challenge: Should you hire someone full-time that may not be fully utilized, or should you bring in a contractor for a shorter period of time?

For instance, when I ran a digital experience for a number of years, we often had projects that demanded a specific experience, or skill set for a short period of time. It would not have been wise for us to turn down a highly profitable project or scope of work, so we brought on a specialist for a short duration to augment our other capabilities. I've found that this is oftentimes the best-case scenario, one that allows you to preserve a highly-functioning team that can perform most tasks but supplement it with experts who can fill in gaps that rarely need to be filled, yet are highly valuable.

Markets fluctuate, and so can the workforce.

Companies continually monitor and update their financial projections in order to make the best decisions about the size and composition of their workforce. In most cases, this works well because it is based on projected consumer demand, production needs and other factors that have at least some lead time in order to compensate for. There are, however, cases where even the best prediction models and planning fail to provide the warning needed to make quick changes to the workforce.

As an example, it would have been hard to predict that Covid-19 would not only happen, but that a pandemic of such proportions would transform several industries, and affect most within a matter of weeks. Building a hybrid team from the start means that some members of the team are temporary by nature. This can mitigate the need for fewer furloughs and layoffs. What's more, those contract workers are more flexible in their ability to find alternative forms of work since short-term work is their primary method of employment. Thus, they are more agile by nature. This provides a win-win for companies and their workforces. View More