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Making Hybrid Working Work

A Practical Guide for Business Success

Understand how to structure your organization, design work and engage your employees in a hybrid work environment to drive overall business results.

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EAN: 9781398619326

Edition: 1

Published: 03 Jan 2025

Format: 234 x 156

296 pages

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About the book

s your hybrid working strategy designed to deliver results for both people and business?

Making Hybrid Working Work by Gary Cookson is a strategic guide for senior leaders and people executives who want to integrate hybrid working into organizational design, culture and long-term business strategy.

Drawing on the latest research, executive interviews and real-world examples from Centrica, what3words and EMIS Health, this book provides proven tools for making hybrid work a driver of performance, not a compromise. It offers a data-led framework to align workforce design, technology investment and culture-building with measurable outcomes.

You'll discover how to:
- Embed hybrid working into governance, structures and team design
- Select and implement technology that supports productivity and culture
- Use data to make informed decisions and avoid costly automation mistakes
- Prioritize performance over presence while maintaining engagement and retention

With strategic models, real-world examples and actionable insights, Making Hybrid Working Work equips senior decision-makers to lead hybrid transformation with purpose, ensuring it delivers tangible business value and competitive advantage.

Themes include: hybrid work strategy, organizational design, governance, technology investment, data-led decision making

About the authors

Gary Cookson is the Founder and Director of EPIC, a consultancy where he helps clients to improve workplace performance. Based in Cheshire, UK, he has more than 20 years' experience in both strategic and operational HR, Learning and Development (L&D) and Organization Development (OD) roles in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development), a Fellow of the LPI (Learning and Performance Institute) and a qualified coach. He is the author of HR for Hybrid Working, also published by Kogan Page.

Gary Cookson

Section - ONE: The changing nature of work;
- Chapter - 01: What really is hybrid?;
- Chapter - 02: Is hybrid working?;
- Chapter - 03: Working 9 to 5?;
Section - TWO: Making hybrid working work;
- Chapter - 04: No one size fits all;
- Chapter - 05: Personalizing work;
- Chapter - 06: Technology and spaces;
- Chapter - 07: The hybrid employee experience;
Section - THREE: Help and support;
- Chapter - 08: Helping managers;
- Chapter - 09: Helping individuals;
- Chapter - 10: Helping teams;

Reviews

Sue Murkin, Healthier Worker Consultant

What sets this book apart is that Gary doesn't take a workforce or people centric approach, he takes a person approach and highlights the need to personalize work. This readable, common sense, evidence-based book acts as a 'go to' guide for implementing hybrid ways of working. The helpful coaching questions and case study reflections was like having my own hybrid business mentor at my side. This book tackles, head on, the frustration that many remote and hybrid workers face, whilst working within work patterns that are trying to cater for a variety of individuals needs and circumstances. The suggestion to overcome sticking points are pragmatic and easily implementable. Considering the bigger picture of healthier working, Gary sets out a compelling case for hybrid working being at the core of best practice for better work life balance.

Alan Price, CEO, BrightHR

I thought everything that needed to be said about remote and hybrid working had been said but then I read this book. Honestly, it's a manager's anthology. It should be easy access on every manager's shelf; it really hits the nail on the head for a pragmatic way of looking at something that has been around for a long time but continues to vex many. It's not often you get this level of detailed insight into how other businesses manage their staff so grab that opportunity now it's here. It's not a book you read once and put away. Keep it on the top of the pile because you'll be reaching for it regularly.

Michelle Parry-Slater, L&D Director, Kairos Modern Learning & author of The Learning and Development Handbook

Gary Cookson has done it again; a book so full of ideas and suggestions that there is no excuse for your organization not to consider hybrid working patterns. Given that hybrid work is not universally fixed in definition, what Gary has done with his pragmatic guide is akin to nailing jelly to a wall. The world of work is a constantly moving feast, and I appreciate how Gary helps us to navigate this reality. Gary sensitively looks at both sides in balance, facing into opposing concerns, risks and negativity. He encourages us to consider our context and lays out many considerations, nuances and consequences. He offers us ways of making hybrid work in all the various glorious forms that might look like in your context. This book is a checklist of conversations to have about hybrid working, which makes it a must read for all modern thinking organizations.

Andy Lancaster, Chief Learning Officer and Consultant, Reimagine People Development

Making Hybrid Working Work highlights the necessity for intentional implementation strategies to leverage the numerous benefits of hybrid working. Gary Cookson prompts us to redefine workweeks, optimize technology and spaces, foster connectivity, overcome isolation, embrace asynchronous working and provide essential support for staff, teams and managers. Through numerous and diverse case studies, thought-provoking questions and practical suggestions, the book serves as a comprehensive guide and must-read for navigating the complexities and unlocking the potential of modern hybrid work environments.

Rob Baker, Chief Positive Deviant & Founder of Tailored Thinking and Author of Personalization at Work

Hybrid working is everywhere, but it doesn't always work. Gary Cookson's book is a masterful guide to designing effective hybrid workplaces for individuals, teams and organizations and the customers they serve. Packed with insightful illustrations, diverse and well-researched topics and real-world case studies, this book is a must-read for any leader committed to creating positive, people-oriented workplaces.

Steve Browne, SHRM-SCP, Chief People Officer, LaRosa’s, Inc.

The workplace has forever changed - for the better. Gary captures the intentionality needed to engage, move and evolve effectively through this new environment. He shows how leadership occurs by making sure we're connected with our folks. I appreciate that he reveals work is not about location and control. Instead, it's about personalization, the ability to be nimble and expecting people will perform. His book gives tangible examples and a framework employers can use to make hybrid work a success.

Shakil Butt FCIPD FCCA, HR and Leadership Consultant, Founder of HR Hero for Hire

Hybrid working, contrary to some claims, was not a pandemic blip after all but has become one of the keyways organizations can attract, engage, retain and unleash talent. This is where Gary's insights into what works and, equally, what doesn't come alive in this easy to read, very human book that he has clearly lovingly crafted. Gary recognizes hybrid working is not a magic pill solving every issue but nor is it a poisoned chalice laced with hoops and hurdles. It does need to be intentional with an understanding one size does not fit all. This book is the go-to for anyone wanting to understand how to make hybrid working actually work rather than costly trial and error. Hybrid working is itself very much a work in progress so few can lay claim to be an expert on the topic. That said, Gary is in a league of his own.

David D’Souza, Director of Profession, CIPD

Making Hybrid Working Work offers up to date practical approaches and insight on navigating hybrid working. An essential overview including case studies and useful guidance to improve outcomes for people and organizations.

Gethin Nadin, award-winning psychologist, bestselling author and #7 HRs Most Influential Thinker

Gary has perfectly captured the tensions, nuances and challenges of the modern work. Through insightful case studies and progressive thinking, this book highlights the immense opportunities ahead and gives you the tools and awareness to navigate them successfully.

James Dean, Founder, HRC Online

Making Hybrid Working Work challenges outdated assumptions about office life and the traditional workweek. It offers actionable processes to improve flexible working policies and eliminates the 'fear' that people will not be working.

Nebel Crowhurst, Chief People Officer, Reward Gateway

Jam-packed with insightful and inspiring case studies, bringing to life the benefits and pitfalls of various working approaches, mixed with practical ideas on how to best approach achieving an effective hybrid working philosophy fit for your unique organizational needs. The book is not only a reflection of our current world but takes a fascinating step back into the history of working 'norms' that have influenced how we work today, made even more compelling with evidence-based data that demonstrates organizations who take an open mind to modern working reap the benefits with increased productivity levels, reduced sickness and absences.

There isn't a single formula to what effective hybrid working looks like, but this is the book that will help you to define and shape an approach that is right for your organization, your leaders, and your people.

What sets this book apart is that Gary doesn't take a workforce or people centric approach, he takes a person approach and highlights the need to personalize work. This readable, common sense, evidence-based book acts as a 'go to' guide for implementing hybrid ways of working. The helpful coaching questions and case study reflections was like having my own hybrid business mentor at my side. This book tackles, head on, the frustration that many remote and hybrid workers face, whilst working within work patterns that are trying to cater for a variety of individuals needs and circumstances. The suggestion to overcome sticking points are pragmatic and easily implementable. Considering the bigger picture of healthier working, Gary sets out a compelling case for hybrid working being at the core of best practice for better work life balance.
Sue Murkin, Healthier Worker Consultant

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