New Work Location Question Reveals How Remote, Hybrid and Onsite Arrangements Impact Employee Engagement

Based on feedback from Ministry Partners and long-term workplace trends, Best Christian Workplaces is offering an additional demographic question to the Employee Engagement Survey to categorize employees as onsite, remote, or hybrid.

The Best Christian Workplaces Employee Engagement Survey is research-based, and the questions are carefully crafted to provide accurate and useful information to organizational leaders. In addition to the questions directly related to employee engagement, demographic questions help categorize the information to provide insights in analyzing results.

BCW serves a variety of organizations that have designed their workplace options based on organizational goals and values. The workplace location demographic question doesn’t put a value on one type of work situation over another. Rather, it offers a way for leaders to analyze employee engagement results if they do offer different work location options—onsite, remote, or hybrid. The question about work site will be available to all organizations that offer more than one workplace option.

Long-Term Trends in Workplace Location

The changes in workplace options started before the pandemic, as the technology to connect workers around the world has improved in recent years. Some organizations have been 100% remote for many years. Others have found that a hybrid or onsite model works best for their organization.

Of course, the trend to remote work accelerated during the pandemic. Now organizational leaders are navigating the long-term implications of various work scenarios and trying to discern which model is best for their employees and for achieving their organizational goals. Since some of these impacts on workplace location are recent, information about the long-term impact is yet to be seen.

Remote work means that organizations can expand their net in hiring the skills they need to include people in locations far from their headquarters. In addition, remote or hybrid options have reduced commuting time and costs for some workers. But is there a difference in employee engagement for remote, hybrid, or onsite staff?

Impact of Workplace Location on Engagement

Many organizations, including BCW, want to see how these now widely accepted working practices are impacting engagement. By adding a demographic question differentiating between remote, onsite, and hybrid work, BCW will be able to show organizations the effect of workplace location on engagement. Leaders will be able to gain insight into the impact of various work location options on their own employee population.

Over time, BCW will be able to collect sufficient data to help organizations understand how alternate work arrangements are positively or negatively affecting various aspects of engagement across organizations. New work patterns can introduce benefits and unintended consequences. Since various alternative work location options are new for many employees, it will take time to understand the impact of various work locations on the components of a flourishing workplace.

As organizations adjust to the opportunities and challenges related to workplace location, the long-term impact on teamwork, healthy communication, sustainable strategy, and other flourish factors will become evident. The breadth of BCW’s reach across churches, educational institutions, Christian nonprofits, and Christian-led businesses means that comparisons with peer organizations will be possible once sufficient data has been collected.

The inclusion of workplace location demographics is an example of how BCW thoughtfully responds to Ministry Partner feedback and changes over time in the nature of work. In this way, BCW models listening and the data-driven decision making that it encourages Ministry Partners to use in their own sphere of influence.

Learn from Your Employees by Objectively Listening

If you have not yet used Best Christian Workplaces to discover the health of your workplace, this is a great time to work with BCW and our top-notch consultants to listen to your employees through an Employee Engagement Survey. Using a professionally-developed, research-based survey means that you can trust the accuracy and thoroughness of the analysis you receive from survey outcome.

Have you surveyed with BCW in the past and taken a break in the last year or two? Now is the time to re-engage with regular surveying, so you can gain a fresh understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in your workplace culture. There have been so many changes in workplaces over the past few years that older survey data may no longer reflect the reality of your current workplace. Invest in listening to your employees and reap the benefits in clear, actionable data that gives you the opportunity to discover, build, and grow a flourishing workplace.