Studies have showed that employees reported higher job satisfaction levels when they had more flexibility in work schedules or when their job is done in the hybrid mode. As a result, their productivity and engagement levels climb up, while the levels of burnout decline.

Moreover, those who follow the hybrid mode of working, reported being 20% more productive than their in-office counterparts, according to a Gallup study. Another study by Owl Labs showed that at least 83% of employees reported higher job satisfaction level when they had flexible work hours. 

These data suggests that employees look for better work-life balance and companies that meet these standards stand to benefit immensely. Embracing the hybrid mode is not only about meeting employee expectations, but also a savvy business decision. Companies that prioritise flexible working hours experience at least 67% rise in employee engagement and at least 55% improvement in retention rates, said research by Gartner.

However, the question arises, how do we measure the employees’ engagement and productivity levels that also align with a company’s goal, in hybrid mode, where they work both remotely and in-office. 

Experts believe, it’s important to track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) in such a case. KPIs primarily measure current performance against set standards, while OKRs focus on setting goals and tracking progress towards achieving them, making them more outcome-oriented and future-focused.

KPIs are about ‘what’ you are measuring, while OKRs define the ‘why’ and ‘how’ element a person is aiming to achieve. Here are some KPIs and OKRs relevant for hybrid work. 

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Collaboration and communication: The objective is to enhance team collaboration and communication, irrespective of the location. It can be done by increasing the participation during virtual meetings, ensuring that over 90% of team members feel engaged in hybrid communication, regularly using collaboration tools, such as Slack, Teams with a 90% adoption rate, and organising bi-weekly cross-functional meetings.

Employee well-being and engagement: The goal is to improve employee engagement and mental well-being in a hybrid setting. According to surveys, it is advisable to have about 90% employee satisfaction rate with hybrid work setup and reduce employee burnout scores by at least 15% from the previous quarter. Companies should organise monthly wellness events with at least 80% participation from employees, virtual or in-person, as per surveys.

Performance and productivity: The aim is to ensure high performance and productivity level in a hybrid setting, meeting 95% of project deadlines, regardless of team location, achieving individual performance as outlined in quarterly or half-yearly reviews for 90% of employees and increasing the number of tasks completed per team member by 20%, as per surveys.

Innovation and learning: The idea is to foster innovation and continuous learning in a hybrid environment by ensuring 100% of employees complete at least one professional development course every quarter, encouraging them to contribute new ideas in monthly sessions and organising quarterly hybrid ‘hackathons’ to encourage creative problem-solving with 50% employee participation.

Technology and infrastructure: The aim is to optimise technology for seamless hybrid work by achieving 100% uptime for remote collaboration tools, ensuring over 90% of employees have the necessary hardware and software to work efficiently from home or office, increasing the speed and reliability of hybrid work setups, achieving about 90% satisfaction rate from employees, and transitioning 80% of internal documents to cloud-based solutions.

Diversity and inclusivity: The focus is to foster inclusivity and diversity, regardless of working mode and can be achieved by implementing hybrid team-building activities that include all employees, virtual and in-person, with 100% participation, conducting half-yearly diversity and inclusion workshops with 90% employee attendance and ensuring all employees have equal access to leadership training and development programmes.

Team alignment and clarity: The objective is to have clear alignment and role clarity for hybrid teams and can be done by conducting quarterly OKR reviews with all teams to ensure alignment with common goals, establishing clear role definitions and responsibilities for hybrid team members, with 100% clarity and ensuring all hybrid employees have access to the same information and resources, regardless of the location.

Flexibility and adaptability: The objective is to promote flexible work arrangements that maintain productivity and satisfaction level, providing a more flexible work schedule, implementing regular feedback sessions (monthly or quarterly) to adapt policies to evolving needs. These should be reviewed and updated periodically to ensure they continue to align with business needs and employee preferences.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Employee productivity: It includes tasks or work completed, measured by tracking the number of tasks done within deadlines. The quality of work can be judged through reviews, peer reviews, feedback, or error rates. To know the amount of time taken on projects, monitor how employees are spending their time on high-priority work in the hybrid mode. Then comes, work efficiency, measured with respect to time taken to complete specific projects versus the estimated time.

Employee satisfaction level: To understand their satisfaction and engagement level, companies use pulse surveys to measure how engaged they feel in their respective roles. If they are satisfied, they will continue for long. Their retention rates suggest the percentage of employees who remain with the company in the given period. 

Employee net promoter score (NPS): Now comes the point when they will recommend the company to others. Employee net promoter score is about how likely they recommend the company to others. They will recommend it only when they are satisfied. Measuring the wellness index is crucial these days and done by focusing on employee well-being through surveys or feedback related to mental health and work-life balance.

Collaboration: This includes cross-team collaboration rate, which means tracking the frequency and effectiveness of communication between remote and in-office teams; meeting efficiency that evaluates whether meetings were productive and meaningful by tracking meetings results; and satisfaction level with respect to internal communication that survey employees about their satisfaction level with communication tools and practices.

Technology: This includes two things -- system uptime and response time to address technology issues. The first one measures the reliability of tools and platforms used for hybrid work such as, video conferencing tools, cloud platforms, among others. The other is about how quickly IT resolves technical glitches employees encounter, ensuring smooth work transitions in hybrid settings.

Innovation: It includes two things – rate of training participation and innovation contribution. The first can be done by tracking how many employees participate in professional development or reskilling opportunities. The second can be done by measuring how employees contribute to ideas, products, or services in a hybrid setup.