It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago, hybrid work was a concept foreign to most workers. Work almost always required leaving your home to commute to an office or business where you’d work for a predetermined time before clocking out and heading home.
The pandemic cracked the concepts of remote and hybrid working wide open. Remote working was required for millions of employees for safety reasons throughout the pandemic, and hybrid working, where employees split their time between remote working and working from the office, became a normal way of life that will endure long after the COVID-19 crisis recedes.
Many companies have allowed their employees to work from home, either partially or full time, even after offices have reopened. Wrike is one such company: employees at Wrike have been encouraged to choose the manner of working that suits them best.
How hybrid work suits a Wrike solutions manager
For Wrike solutions manager Valerio Nocera, hybrid working has offered “a refreshing change of environments,” giving him more time to focus on complex tasks.
Valerio lives in a village 30 minutes from Dublin with his fiancée, having purchased their home during the pandemic. “We love to be a little bit further away from the busyness of the city and close to the sea and woods. In my spare time, I trail run or climb the nearby mountains.”
Valerio had a background working remotely prior to joining Wrike in 2019. In fact, the lively office culture was one of the reasons he wanted to join Wrike. Through the pandemic, Valerio worked exclusively remotely, as did almost all Wrike employees, and he has chosen to continue working on a hybrid schedule now that the office has reopened. “One of the reasons I joined Wrike was because I missed working with colleagues face-to-face,” Valerio explained.
When the opportunity to return to a hybrid work schedule presented itself, Valerio jumped on it.
“Sometimes I feel my network can shrink when working from home, especially over an extended period, to the people I only directly need to work with. Being in the office gives me the chance to have a spontaneous conversation with colleagues from other departments and a bit of context about business insight. Knowing what’s happening in the marketing department can help me to anticipate resource allocation. Being in the office allows me to connect with people I don’t interact with daily and have genuine conversations about work and life.”
Valerio’s hybrid work schedule
Valerio heads into the Wrike office Tuesdays and Thursdays, grouping meetings with colleagues to maximize his time. “I usually sit in the same place as I did pre-pandemic,” he said. “I prefer to drive early in the morning, so I’ll leave home at 7 a.m., and it usually takes 35-40 minutes. This gives me the chance to be in the office early and hit the Wrike gym for an hour of exercise.”
While Valerio enjoys his days in the office, he also appreciates working from home for the focus it brings to his work. “Working from home gives me more focus time and the ability to quickly complete heads-down tasks,” Valerio noted. “As a result, I can concentrate more on what’s really important in my job.”
“Having flexibility, especially now that I have regular meetings with the APAC region [in an earlier time zone], is more important than ever as it allows me to start early and organize my time a bit better,” he said. “It also helps me recharge by cutting out the commute and having more free time.”
Valerio and his fiancée use that time to enjoy how close their new home is to the sea and the woods. “Since the new hybrid model, I find it easier to train and exercise and have more energy,” Valerio explained, reporting that he even sometimes squeezes in a run after early meetings.
And as an added bonus, the hybrid work model has allowed him the flexibility to travel to visit his family in his home country: “Working from home allows me to travel back home from Dublin to Sicily and work from there for a couple of weeks.”
Wrike enables hybrid work around the world
Wrike’s work management software enables companies to provide flexible hybrid working options for their employees. If you’re looking to centralize communication in your organization and help your workers achieve a better work-life balance, it’s time to check out Wrike. You can start a free two-week trial today.
