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- A higher share of hybrid workers are stressed or burned out in the past year than fully remote workers, Deloitte found.
- Deloitte's Jana Arbanas said some of this may be because of a lack of structure as a hybrid worker.
- Yet, many hybrid workers are content with their jobs, Deloitte survey results show.
While a hybrid work model may be the dream return-to-office scenario for many companies right now, it may be stressing out some workers.
"Hybrid workers are more likely to feel disconnected from on-site colleagues and say that their collaboration efforts are ineffective, and they're also more likely to be distracted by nonwork activities, to have difficulty accessing work files, to feel stress and burnout, and to have a hard time prioritizing their well-being," a recent Deloitte report stated.
Jana Arbanas, vice chair and Deloitte's US Telecom, Media, and Entertainment sector leader, told Insider that the hybrid model, which can mean working a few days in an office and the other days remotely, is still pretty new. People may still be adjusting to it.
"They're basically creating a unique schedule each and every week," Arbanas said. "That schedule then has diversity in terms of what a given day looks like. I do think that that lack of structure that many people who are navigating this hybrid return to work is causing some of that additional stress."
The Deloitte 2023 Connected Consumer Survey asked about problems and feelings in the past 12 months while working from home. Deloitte clarified to Insider that a hybrid respondent was likely basing their answers on how they are feeling overall, not just problems when they are working remotely.
The recently shared results from the Deloitte survey to Insider were based on nearly 240 fully remote workers, around 350 hybrid workers, and about 460 fully in-person workers and was conducted in April.
A higher share of hybrid workers said that in the past 12 months they were feeling stressed or burned out than those who were fully remote, 40% vs 30% respectively. Just over a third of hybrid workers also felt they didn't really have enough time for wellness, while almost a quarter of fully remote workers felt like this.
A quarter of hybrid workers said they felt disconnected from their on-site colleagues compared to 13% of fully remote workers. Similarly, almost a quarter of hybrid workers felt there was ineffective collaboration happening compared to 9% of fully remote workers.
"It's possible that without structure, a hybrid worker shows up to work and none of their colleagues are there," Arbanas said. "They've chosen the day that everyone else has chosen to be at home. And so they're not actually even getting the benefit of being on site because of the lack perhaps of structure."
On the other hand, those working at a workplace all the time or people working remotely each workday might not feel this lack of a work structure. Arbanas said for fully remote workers, they "inherently have probably built a structure that works for them," including when they can be distracted by or doing activities not related to working.
Despite those stresses, a high share of hybrid workers were satisfied in their jobs. The Deloitte survey found 72% of hybrid workers, 70% of fully remote workers, and 63% of those who work in person full time felt either good or extremely good about their role.
"A hybrid structure does create the most satisfaction because you're getting the best of both worlds," Arbanas said. "You're enabling employees to get greater flexibility, and whether that takes the shape of getting to focus on your wellbeing, spend a bit more time with family because you're not commuting, those are real, meaningful impacts to an individual's work life. At the same time, you also have the ability to be in the office, do some of that innovation, do some of that connectedness."
Deloitte found almost half of hybrid workers, for instance, felt their relationships with family either somewhat or significantly was better than when they used to be working in person all the time. The share of fully remote workers who said this was 38%.
Experts have told Insider that remote work in general is probably going to continue, and companies have shared with Insider why they have chosen to have workers be in the workplace or with clients part of the time. Arbanas also thinks the hybrid model is staying.
"I think it can be this sweet spot of achieving what an organization is looking for, in terms of what they need from their employees, and at the same time providing flexibility for employees that didn't exist previously," Arbanas told Insider.
Do you like working in the office, remotely, or a hybrid schedule? Have you made a career move to achieve this? Reach out to this reporter to share your story, at mhoff@insider.com.