If I had said "Furlough" to you in January last year you would have thought I probably meant "Furlong". It's a new word we all learnt in lockdown. Likewise, the word Hybrid is becoming more and more common in our vocabulary but like many words, it means different things to different people.
Probably the most common use recently has been Hybrid cars, i.e. those that run on petrol or diesel as well as electric – the Toyota Prius being of course the obvious example although every manufacturer now seems to make at least one. However, within the fringes of my own profession in property, there has been a growing move towards what is called Hybrid Estate Agency. This is the agencies that operate with a limited physical presence but with most of their operations being done remotely online – different to the traditional estate agents who still use online as part of their offering but maintain local offices in communities, and different to the purely online operations with no accessible physical presence. We are also seeing Hybrid in a lot of retail trades, and whereas some business have gone entirely online (notably the vestiges of the Arcadia Empire and Debenhams), a lot of traders are doing a general mix. Now we are also seeing Hybrid working in the office environment where people work part time from an office and part time from home. My views on the importance of the High Street are fairly well known, in that I believe we need to do all we can to keep it lively and relevant in a changing world but I do see issues with this Hybrid working for white collar workers. I see an issue for their customers as well as for their staff. I don’t think I am anything like alone in my frustration trying to deal with any organisation on the phone or via email when each call or email is dealt with by a different person, who quite often doesn’t seem to have full knowledge of the case in hand. It makes things considerably less efficient and leads to resentment on behalf of the caller/ emailer who finds it frustrating not to get a direct answer to a direct question. The other issue is that we are invading people’s private spaces. If workers are expected to work some days in the working week from a shop or dedicated office and sometimes from home, then they need to have at their fingertips all the relevant information at home. They need the space and frankly I don’t think this works for many people. I have my own business and so I have a small computer and printer at home but 90% of my paperwork – make that 99% – is in the office. I know many people at least attempt to work paperless, but because I have old documents such as leases where legally originals are required we need to keep them in filing cabinets in physical form. I don’t have copies of those at home because firstly I don’t have the space and secondly my home is my sanctuary. And that is speaking as a business owner. In the case of an employee, why should they have their private space invaded by work? I leave my office desk somewhat untidy on an evening as can my assistant (or to be more honest I can leave my desk an absolute mess and she can leave hers somewhat untidy) – but if we work from home, unless we do have a dedicated private room, everything needs to be cleared away at the end of every evening and reset out in the morning. What about children playing when we are working from home? Children who are old enough to be left on their own for a short time well by their very nature be a potential nuisance if they are playing, chattering or making a mess when we are trying to work. That is what adolescence is all about. So my thoughts are that whereas Hybrid cars maybe better than purely fossil fuel powered cars, and there may be a place for Hybrid Estate Agency, Retail and Office work, I do think that it needs very careful consideration for the sake of all concerned; though really I believe we need to maintain shops and offices for the mental wellbeing of all the employees as well as the customers.
