In 2017, way before the pandemic, we made a decision to close our office our office based outside Woking, about twenty five miles south of London.

It wasn’t an easy decision and there was much angst, but for a variety of reasons our office was becoming more of a headache than a necessity.

Like many small businesses we’d picked our location because it was close to the directors’ homes and it had excellent transport links.

The M25 motorway was ten minutes away and Heathrow airport and Waterloo train station were only 30  minutes away on a good day.

How to Build a Communications Plan For a Hybrid Workplace

But over time people, including us, had moved. By 2017, all of the team were an hour away, and some much more.

We also found that fewer clients were visiting us in our office, and wanted us to meet us in theirs (which we preferred because you pick up so much from being in clients’ offices).

We were also making hiring decisions based on people’s ability to travel to our office which didn’t seem the right priority; neither was recruiting people to provide office cover.

Oh and Catherine, our ‘number cruncher’ was constantly querying the costs incurred including rent, rates, cleaning and why did we need to have a gardener to plant pots?

We knew we needed storage, meetings, and ‘collaborative’ space. But that could be anywhere and didn’t actually require an office. 

Conversations with colleagues were positive but we were ‘shy’, about letting people know about our new plan.  And what was that plan?

We invested in tech (including Microsoft Teams and a Dropbox cloud storage approach), sorted out what to do about post and phones, cleared out the office, hired a document retrieval company (for those people like my business partner, Lisa who can’t bear to throw things out) and started working from home.

We built-in weekly team video meetings, and bi-monthly face-to-face with food thrown in.  And we just got on with it!

In some ways, it wasn’t a big stretch for us as we’d always done some remote working. But the new tech, as everyone has now experienced, was a game-changer. By the time the pandemic broke, we’d been home-based for two years.

It’s important to mention that home working in non-pandemic times is very different from during a pandemic! We’ve all experienced the fight for Wi-Fi, space to work, home-schooling, and other demands which can make homeworking a little stressful!

If you’ve only experienced home working during a pandemic, you’ve probably not experienced it at its best.

So, what have we learned about changing our working model?

We all know that many people find change hard.  So consult and talk about it as much as possible. And listen. The change will mean different things to different people, and you can’t possibly fix everything.

One of the things we miss most about the office is being part of a local community.  We knew the bakers, dry cleaners, and the coffee shops, and were involved in the village as much as we could be.

We know some of our best work at HarknessKennett is achieved when we work together as a team and someone says; “have you thought about this?”. We get more buzz out of that than someone sending us an email saying “you’ve used the wrong font”.

So, build in time for collaboration. In an office, so much of that can happen naturally. But working remotely you need to make an effort to catch up with people. It needs to be done so people don’t feel they’re being checked up upon

Plan interactions into your schedule. And experiment with some of the social stuff. We did a virtual wine tasting and it worked a treat as a Christmas party.

If your culture permits, allow people to do something different outside work and recognize them for it.  From James’s earliest days at The Body Shop we encouraged volunteering. It’s a joy, and we all volunteer, whether at vaccine centers or with elderly relatives, providing each of us with important face-to-face social interaction especially during the initial days of the pandemic.

With so much talk about hybrid working, you can’t adopt a one size fits all approach.  We’d recommend creating some personal profiles; take time to think about the different employees you have and articulate their experience.

Reflect on the positives of the situation and acknowledge the difficulties. If working processes can be adapted to make the employee experience better make sure you tell everyone what’s being done and suggest how people can manage this better for themselves.

It takes time to adapt to any kind of change, and hybrid working is no exception.  As we all begin to settle into the changes to our working patterns, or indeed for some going back to our original ways of working, we need to keep talking; about how we feel, what works, and what doesn’t.

And throughout listen and recognize that for many of us these are the biggest changes we’ll ever experience in our working lives.

Nicky Gallagher

Working  (undercover!) Remotely.  A Personal Perspective of a Whole New World.

We’re at a moment of historic change in the world of work. Over the past year, organizations have implemented a variety of 

. A hybrid workplace supports remote and in-office working. Employees can split their time between the office and home environment. 

This flexible approach to work will require a coordinated approach, including clear communications and smart use of technology, if it is to succeed. . But according to McKinsey, 68% of companies haven’t communicated a clear vision for post-pandemic work, with serious negative consequences on employee productivity.

In contrast, those organizations that have effectively communicated 

 are seeing outsized benefits — their employees are five times more productive because they have the clarity and confidence that vision provides.

the world of work continues to be in flux

, organizations are faced with a number of challenges. At Poppulo, we surveyed over 100 organizations worldwide and found that 22% believe maintaining alignment of the employee to organization purpose will be the biggest challenge in facing the future of work. Leaders fear a disconnect between company goals and employee mindsets as the new ways of working become more and more complex.


Simply reaching employees is more challenging than ever before; 22% of organizations believe they don’t have the correct technologies to reach and communicate with their employees in this new world of work.

As communicators search for the correct channel mix and strategy to engage their people, many are hindered by a tech stack that does not meet the needs of this changed workplace. 

Engaging with a distributed workforce, which combines remote and in-office workers, requires an omnichannel platform where workers can consume communications using the channel that best suits their location on a particular day.

In this distributed workplace, where employees are not fully based in the office, leaders fear the dilution of company culture. 19% of the organizations we surveyed believe this will be the biggest challenge with the future of work. 

Colleague relationships, onboarding, team collaboration, overall motivation, and employee experience appear to be at the forefront of many people’s concerns.

The flexibility that a hybrid working model offers has become an attractive option for workers. And for large organizations intent on reducing employee churn and ensuring their competitiveness when hiring key staff, embracing a hybrid working model is increasingly important. . 81% of organizations we surveyed are embracing a hybrid model in the near future. 

In a recent Accenture report, 83% of 9,326 workers surveyed say they prefer a hybrid model — in which they can work remotely at least 25% of the time.

A recent study by Stanford of 16,000 workers over 9 months found that working from home increased productivity by 13%. This increase in performance was due to more calls per minute attributed to a quieter, more convenient working environment and working more minutes per shift because of fewer breaks and sick days.

Many leaders who once feared the shift to a more distributed work environment have been persuaded by the results. Employees who would have feared the separation from the office environment have embraced the change over time and now are looking forward to a new way of working.


Certainly, organizations globally are trying to unravel the true impact of the acceleration of hybrid working. The employee life cycle has never been so unclear. Traditionally, we describe the 6 stages of an employee and company relationship as Attraction, Recruitment, Onboarding, Development, Retention, and Separation.

Human Resource leaders develop strategies

 to optimize areas of this cycle to improve overall employee experience and retain talent at their organizations. The future of work will no doubt have a large impact on success.

The impact on recruitment is severe, 43% of HR professionals cited “competition from other employers” as the top reason they’re struggling to hire the right employees (SHRM). How organizations display and communicate their approach to the future of work is key to attracting talent in today’s environment. Organizations who are embracing very flexible or fully remote working are boarding their reach in regards to recruitment thus creating a more competitive market.

Employee connection, alignment, and clarity of communications will be imperative in retaining employees. Progressive employees will strive for clear structures and working conditions that suit their requirements.

Without a doubt, the employee life cycle has never been so complex or challenged. The increased variety in working models is causing churn within employee bases and focusing the spotlight on clarity from leaders.

Many of us have embraced the hybrid working life and we’ve learned a lot from the experience. We’ve become better project managers and we’ve seen the benefits of a healthy work-life balance. Some of the main benefits include:

Executing remedial household tasks during coffee breaks

Achieving our step counts during lunch break

Securing additional time to spend with family and loved ones

Decreased the need to join morning traffic jams and less car pollution as a result

There are endless impacts from this historic change in the way we work but many are finding several positives amongst this new era.

We asked over 250 professionals on Linkedin, what is their preferred schedule regarding the future of work. 60% selected 0-25% of the time in the office and only 4% selected 100%. This begs the question, is the idea of the office as a full-time workplace a permanent thing of the past?


Certainly, today’s generation of workers is organizing the work schedule to align with their needs and values. Employees now increasingly demand the flexibility to select their own schedules. Organizations will have a lot to comprehend when it comes to supporting their employees through the next few months and stages of this historic change. However, initiating clear and 

Hybrid Working: The future of the workplace

Fearless Internal Communication: Part 1 of a four-part series on psychological safety in the workplace

➡️ You spend a month organizing a Town Hall and you dedicate 20 minutes in the program for questions. The CEO’s invitation to ask her anything is met with nothing but awkward silence.

➡️ You write a thought-provoking blog for the intranet, and you hope it sparks a great discussion. The article gets 308 likes, but no comments.

➡️ You are leading a change initiative and you want to better understand the impact on key employees, but the only input you get is through gossip and back channels.

Scenarios like these are a good indication that there is a lack of psychological safety in your organization.  

FREE WEBINAR: Elevating Other Voices: How to Promote Diversity & Inclusion Through Employee Storytelling

Not only does this impact your ability as internal communication professional to build a better employee experience and culture, but it can also have disastrous implications for the ability of your organization to successfully navigate a volatile and uncertain world.

Amy Edmondson, the Harvard professor that is considered the leading expert in psychological safety extensively (superfan here) defines the concept as:

A belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.

She, among many other researchers, has proven that psychological safety is the underpinning for people to work effectively, for teams to thrive, and for overall success in the organization. She calls organizations with high levels of psychological safety “fearless”.

Why Psychological Safety Matters for Your Organization

The magic of psychological safety is not only that it eliminates the fear that holds people back, but it also:

Creates an environment for people to be themselves and not apologize for it

Encourages people to depend on one another

 about agreeing with each other for the sake of being nice. I like to call this ‘group think’, where teams and organizations are so busy agreeing with each other that they don’t consider a different perspective. 

Psychological safety is also not about giving people praise or unconditional support for everything that is said, nor is it about creating a workplace where people are not expected to adhere to high standards or meet deadlines.

I’ve been interested in the concept of psychological safety for several years now. As someone who has worked with organizations for over 20 years to improve internal communication and to successfully manage major change initiatives, I’ve long believed that the best communication with employees is authentic, transparent, and two-way. 

After discovering Edmondson’s work, I realized psychological safety was often the missing element in organizations struggling to get internal communications right.

My discovery was reinforced by a difficult experience with a client. I was supporting two projects and my work was making a difference. 

Because of this, I was asked to help with another high-profile initiative. In the end, I was juggling three projects. I pushed myself too hard, got sick (thanks H1N1!), and made some typos on a draft PowerPoint presentation. 

My contract was ended early because of an incomplete sentence on a deck. After beating myself up for several weeks, I started to reflect on the organization’s culture. Many people reached out to me and told me how much they loved my work and what a difference it made. 

Many were fearful that the same thing would happen to them. I realized that the organization suffered from a lack of psychological safety. 

While I learned some personal lessons, it became clear to me that without psychological safety, even organizations considered great places to work could become toxic and rife with fear.

Incorporating Psychological Safety into our Work

I began to integrate concepts related to psychological safety in our communications audits and when developing strategies and materials for leaders. 

Our guidance was heavily influenced by Edmondson’s work. A few months ago, I was selected to participate in a certification program developed by Edmondson and her team at Harvard. In this program, I deepened my knowledge. 

In this four-part series,  I’ll explore the four dimensions of psychological safety and how it helps people and teams thrive. 

I’ll share why psychological safety is more important than ever and how it should be a key component of creating the future of work. 

In the final blog, I’ll share a roadmap for internal communications professionals to work with leaders to build psychological safety in their organizations.

Follow along over the next few weeks as I share my expertise in this area.

Understanding psychological safety and making it central to our work as internal communications professionals will transform our practice. 

(In the second part of this series, next Wednesday, July 28th, Andrea takes a deeper dive into the four dimensions of psychological safety and how critical it is to corporate priorities such as inclusion and belonging, innovation, learning, and resilience)

Why Psychological Safety Matters in Internal Communications

If I asked you this one question, how would you answer? In 2021, do you feel powerful or helpless?

I’m sure there are several more questions like this? Are your energized or overwhelmed? Do you feel valued and respected or are you simply tired and exhausted?

In this year's  Gallagher State of the Sector report, they came to the following conclusion of 2020: “As difficult as they’ve been, there’s no denying that the past 12 months have forced something of an internal communication renaissance. 

"But do you want that to be a flash in the pan? An offer of the week? A missed opportunity? Of course, you don’t. Driving that momentum forward has to be priority number-one for IC pros this year.”

There is a reason more than 2,500 communication and HR professionals around the globe took the time to register for my recent Poppulo webinar on 

Building a Communication Plan for Returning to the Hybrid Workplace

Change is normal. Employees are valued. Productivity is paramount. And communication has become more complicated. They need you. They always did.

But the pandemic has given more of you access and authority and your role is now seen as critical in smooth operations that limit disruption and have an impact on the bottom line.

And changes will not stop. We’ll start with hybrid workplaces, then digital transformations, then mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures based on organizational sustainability strategies, then reorganizations and restructurings. 

Amidst it all, we will continue to accelerate our diversity programs and prepare for the war on talent and demographic shifts.

I’ve always believed that Internal Communication is an integral enabler of business success. 

Our greatest opportunity is not to communicate on behalf of our organizations but instead to influence how our organizations, leaders, managers, and people communicate. 

When things go wrong,  it’s not always because plans and strategies weren't sound; it's often because those on the ground being asked to deliver were not aware or did not understand why decisions were made, didn’t clearly understand their role or what to do.

And they probably didn’t believe in the direction or the reasons why change was necessary anyway because of the communications deficit. A proactive communication plan supporting organizations could be the difference between success and failure.

The question for you is are you ready to use your power to move forward and make progress? Do you have the right resources to help your organization succeed and are you prepared to make the case for investment? 

Do you have the tools at your disposal to ensure the right employees, get the right information at the right time? Do you have the right access to decisions makers to move quickly and effectively?

How to Build a Communications Plan for a Hybrid Workplace 

walks you through the transition you need to redefine your role and set yourself, your team, and your organization up for success.

Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”  

I want each and every one of you to look back at this time as a turning point that helped you harness the power of internal communication to connect the dots between strategies and results, values and behaviors, and brand promise,  and employee and customer experience.

Internal Communicators: You’ve Got the Power. It's Time to Wield it.

Being an Internal Communicator requires being adept and confident at influencing others. 

From the relationships and stakeholders we have and the messaging we share, influencing is a key component of the communicator's skill set to be truly effective in your role. 

In established relationships, we have learned what works well and how to make a positive impact or impression upon them. 

But how do you influence a senior leader you really don't know well or at all?

Here are five ways to hone your influencing capabilities and place yourself in the realms of trusted advisor with the leader you don’t know (yet).

How To Build a Communications Plan For a Hybrid Workplace

The first place to start when trying to influence someone you don’t know or haven’t got established connections with yet is go fact-finding. 

Play the detective - curious and open-minded. As a communicator, you are adept at spending time understanding your audience, their needs, their challenges, their communication preferences.  It’s the same here. 

Watch videos of them. Observe their speeches. Read their emails, blogs, and social media posts. 

The effectiveness of your influencing approach will be determined by how well you know them and communicating in a way that mirrors their own style and preferences.

Make it your business and mission to understand and observe them even if it has to start from afar.

2. Find a link between you, someone you both know

Even if you have zero personal connection with the leader you need to build a relationship with, and influence, there will be a common link between you both through at least one other person..

Your task is to find that person who connects you. Ask them for tips, insight, and information about the leader in question and how best to influence them. 

If you haven’t yet been introduced to or met the person you’re trying to influence, this key contact could be the one who opens the door for you.

Nothing gets you noticed and more magnetic than being a go-to font of expertise. From your knowledge of the business to the solid understanding of your audience and culture, to the communications you craft and deliver to the data you gather and interpret, make sure you’re on top of your game. 

Word travels fast when you’re respected for your craft and it’s likely the leader will be more open to listening to or connecting with you if you’re well regarded.

4. Influence with your head, heart & hands

When the time comes to connect with your leader, to build rapport and make headway with influencing there are three key ways to approach it … and of course you’ll know which one or two to leverage by the knowledge you’ve gathered about them so far.

If you’ve noticed they’re logical in their style and communications you can influence them by appealing to their rational mind. They will appreciate data, facts, trends, knowing what’s worked before. 

They will value you based on your expertise and reputation too because they will more likely listen to someone in a place of authority (trusted experts are weighted with authority).

Leaders with a more empathetic, people-focused style will be more influenced by an approach that considers people’s emotions and feelings. 

Appeal to their values and that of your organization, as well as their reputation, influence, and responsibilities as a people leader.

Influencing others with the hands' approach involves cooperative appeals centered on collaboration and teamwork. Ensure you seek their input and encourage or enable them to work alongside you in partnership.

This kind of leader will appreciate collaborating on a goal that benefits the greater good, especially if you’re working toward making impactful, lasting change.

Persistence almost always pays off, so don’t worry if your attempts to connect with or influence your new leader don’t seem to work at first.  

But remember that persistence can work against you unless you pair it with flexibility. 

Adapting your approach to tailor it to them, learning as you go along, noticing what switches them off or annoys them, is all part of building rapport and an understanding relationship with someone so that you can influence them – and, as a result, be even more influential yourself.

To further enhance your influencing capabilities you might also like to take a read of another Poppulo article I wrote: 

How to Influence Senior Leaders When Working Remotely

5 Ways to Influence Senior Leaders You Don't Know Well

As the global disaster of our generation wanes and people begin to emerge from isolation, misaligned expectations about the future of remote work models have started to appear, with potentially damaging consequences.

Surveys show that much of the workforce has enjoyed the benefits of working from home – especially having more quality time with family and friends and freedom from commuting – and they don’t want to lose this.

Conversely, many employers are anxious to get employees back in the office – despite seeing higher productivity levels once people got used to the sudden plunge into remote working and all the teething problems that came with that.

They want people to return to the office and the traditional ways of engagement.

In short, Houston, we have a problem. Organizations are already experiencing this friction. Leadership must prevail to avoid serious business disruption.

 rises to become an accepted practice in the corporate world.

How can organizations find a clear path forward?

Simply put, the expectations of the worker base have changed. Most embrace many of the benefits of remote work flexibility. A majority want to retain some, if not all, of these benefits.

How to Build a Communications Plan for a Hybrid Workplace

As employees are often considered the most important asset for success, employers are now faced with evaluating how a hybrid model may impact business operations, productivity, employee satisfaction, and achievement of business goals.

Happy employees are more productive. Supporting a flexible work model could go a long way to both attract and retain quality workers. 

But a hybrid environment adds complexity, potentially more conflict, and possibly even inequity. Organizations must consider the business needs.

The decision of where and how to work is not binary. As people emerge from their isolation cocoons, many want to get away from home to see coworkers and clients in person, and return to the office setting.

But often, people are expressing they want a situation that supports better flexibility and an enhanced work-life balance. There is no clear requirement for companies as they explore the options. 

Even manufacturing operations, where the bulk of the workers are required to be physically present on an assembly line, may have back-office employees that don’t necessarily need to be in the office all the time. 

Payroll, human resources, marketing, and salespeople might want flexibility.

Some businesses have already decided to fully embrace the remote model. Empty offices are no longer a necessary expense and are being sold or the leases are being allowed to expire. 

Expenditures like electricity, office maintenance, and insurance can be wiped off the books.

Other companies are planning on a hybrid model where workers may only come into the office a few days of the week. That can reduce the overall requirements for space, utilities, and other costs while still supporting some face-to-face interaction. 

Maintaining the remote-work capabilities remains an important corporate asset.

Lastly, there are businesses already planning the ‘welcome back to the office’ party, where everyone will return to their rightful place in their cubicle, station, or office. 

Coffee and donuts will be the conciliatory offerings as managers will demand workers return to the office. These and many other permutations may not align with the desires of employees. In fact, they may actually create serious problems.

Everyone has a unique perspective of the benefits and drawbacks of working remotely. Their personal experiences have forged their opinions of what they want as employees.

Now is a good time for leaders to revisit policies, revise work practices, and consider evolving from traditional mindsets with a competitive attitude. 

It is an opportune time to consider reforging the organization into a more agile and stronger organization! Exploration at a minimum is warranted.

The first step is to establish a productive dialog between management and employees to understand how a new model could benefit the organization. 

Communication, planning, and collaboration are crucial. Employees must feel that their voices are being heard and considered. Empathy, which was experienced during the lockdown, is a requirement to navigate this journey. 

For many employees, their lives may be drastically different as compared to before the pandemic and everyday work in the office may not be desirable or feasible anymore.

Communication is key. Employees must feel safe in expressing their needs and limitations. Executives must be clear in their concerns and flexibility. These are unusual times and we must be sensitive to both the needs of employees and the success of the business.

Make no mistake, these are crucial discussions. Employee loyalty will be won or lost on this battlefield! They will remember how they were treated. 

Was their company a great advocate, sensitive, and flexible or was their employer apathetic to their viewpoints, contributions, and needs? 

How organizations approach this challenge will determine if they reinforce or undermine the dedication of their workforce.

If companies don’t proactively get ahead of the needs of employees, it can create chaos. This is true for expectations, emotional needs, and also for the tools and technologies they use to conduct work.

Take for example all those communication and data sharing tools that were the backbone of remote work. Even if the company IT department won't support them, workers will still use them for work, inside and outside the office. 

Unmanaged technology tools create what is known as ‘shadow IT’, which can be a nightmare for an organization to control and can create vulnerabilities to the confidentiality of data and availability of operations.

It is better to be proactive in understanding the worker's needs and providing them the tools to be productive while also meeting security, safety, and privacy requirements.

Good decisions begin with good leadership. Decisions need to be made and communicated properly and in a timely manner.  Everyone hates ambiguity. Executives must decide if and how the organization will change. They are also responsible for deciding the path and timelines that will impact everyone.

Once a plan is finalized, start communication with the basics:

Will there be a physical office to return to and will the office arrangements be different?

What kinds of workers are allowed to work partially/fully remote and why?

How often do office workers need to come into the office and will there be flexibility?

Follow up with well-thought-out policies and procedures that reinforce corporate ethics, equality, and equity principles. For example, will people who choose to come into the office have an informal advantage for advancement? 

Are there policies or processes that encourage or forbid such directions? Clarity is important.

Lastly, it is up to the leadership to not only communicate but also show by example. Policies remain weak until executives showcase them in their actions. Leaders lead from the front and during these uncertain times, employees need leadership to set a good example more than ever.

It is a time when great leaders emerge to build stronger teams and accomplish great goals.

The work environment is again shifting and many will be returning to a new normal that has yet to be determined by most organizations.

There will be challenges as part of the world shifts to a hybrid model, but proper leadership acting proactively can forge an optimal path for their business and employees.

Disruption Looms as Employees Return to the Workplace

How many stories have you told today? How many have you heard? Chances are, it’s more than a few. 

From talking about your weekend to sharing a video conference fail, most humans tell stories all day long, and for good reason.

Let’s take a look at why stories matter and some key things your organization can be doing now to find and preserve your stories from the pandemic.

How to Build a Communication Plan for a Hybrid Worklace

All organizations have stories, even start-ups. In fact, for most start-ups, they 

 the story. The most basic kind of organizational story is the origin story. How did 

? What did AirBNB’s founders do to turn 

Organizations also tell stories about successes, failures, employees, customers and achievements. Even the day-to-day rumors and gossip that swirl around the workplace are a form of storytelling.

Working (undercover!) Remotely. A Personal Perspective of a Whole New World.

Latest stories

Hybrid Working: The future of the workplace

By Micheál McGrath

— July 26th, 2021

Why Psychological Safety Matters in Internal Communications

By Andrea Greenhous

— July 21st, 2021

Internal Communicators: You’ve Got the Power. It's Time to Wield it.

By Priya Bates

— July 19th, 2021

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How to Reconnect Your People with Your Company’s Purpose

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