Workplace Services & Solutions | Ricoh Canada
                     Success in the hybrid workplace
Using people-first strategies 
to drive business growth
Success in the hybrid workplace
Using people-first strategies 
to drive business growth
The modern workplace. 
Putting people before place.
The landscape of the modern workplace has undergone a 
significant transformation with the rise of the hybrid workforce. 
As businesses adapt to this new paradigm — operationally and 
culturally — they’re navigating a range of complexities, while 
simultaneously seeking to capitalize on the potential advantages 
it offers. In this eBook, we explore how business leaders are 
putting their people first to drive enhanced collaboration, 
culture, performance, security, compliance, and sustainable 
business practices.
We know that hybrid work is here to stay.  We also know that 
managing that workforce effectively is critical to success. 
According to Gartner®, human-centric design is “a model that 
puts people at the center of work.”1 Their research has shown 
that organizations with a human-centric model in place are 
nearly 4 times more likely to see high employee performance.
4x higher employeeperformance
1Gartner, Human-Centric Work Models Proven to Drive Performance the Most. 7 November 2022, Graham Waller Et Al. GARTNER is a registered 
trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights 
reserved.
The challenges mount.
C-suite leaders are navigating a rapidly evolving, increasingly 
competitive market while contending with an entirely new 
kind of workforce characterized by: 50% 
•    “Demand for flexibility and autonomy in their work.  Portion of the workforce 
      Employees who have workplace autonomy are 3.8 times who are “quietly quitting”
      more likely to achieve high performance.” 2 
• Quiet quitting, a portion of the workforce which Gallup 
estimates to be at least 50%3
•     A rise in the impact of sustainable business 70% 
       practices — workers feel strongly about a company’s 
       mission and values, with 70% of workers prepared Portion of the workforce 
       to leave if their company had an unfair gender pay prepared to leave if company 
had unfair gender pay gap
       gap and 68% saying the same about a lack of a 
       diversity and inclusion policy4 
•     The rise of the “side hustle,”5 a workplace trend in 
        which more than half of Gen Zers, half of Millennials, 
        and 40% of Gen Xers are currently engaged 50% 
•      Historically low unemployment rates Portion of Gen Z workforce 
engaged in “side hustle”
2 Gartner. Think hybrid work doesn’t work? The data disagrees. November 21, 2022.
3 Gallup. Is quiet quitting real?  September 2022.
4 ADP Research Institute. People at Work 2022: A Global Workforce View. April 2022.
5 Bankrate. Survey: 39% have a side hustle, and 44% believe they’ll always need one. March 2023.
The response? A people first workplace.
Forward-thinking leaders are taking a people-first, human-centric approach 
to managing their hybrid employees. How? By creating and reinforcing a 
culture that prioritizes a balanced working/personal life for each employee 
through empathy, flexibility and collaboration.
They understand that maintaining employee connections and creating a 
sense of inclusivity, collaboration, and teamwork are critical, whether it’s 
peer-to-peer, manager-to-peer, manager-to-manager, or in group dynamics. 
First and foremost, however, they understand that a people-first 
model requires commitment to empowerment, training, technolo-
gies and tools. It also takes a higher-level commitment to building 
a culture that encompasses and fosters the principles of CSR, ESG 
and DEIB. These principles demonstrate an organization’s focus on 
making people and planet a priority, which is more important than 
ever before.
workers would leave 
68% if their company lacked a diversity andinclusion policy
Now, let’s explore how a people-centric model drives satisfaction, 
performance and revenue, backed by findings from Ricoh’s 
2023 Global Customer Discovery Report.
 1  |  Communication and collaboration
One of the foremost challenges faced by employers with a hybrid 
workforce is effective communication and collaboration. In fact, 
in Foundry’s 2022 study, more than half of employees surveyed 50% 
cited effective collaboration as a major challenge.  With teams of employees cite effective 
dispersed across various locations, ensuring seamless information collaboration as a major challenge6
exchange becomes more complex. Moreover, striking a balance 
between in-person and virtual meetings becomes crucial to 
maintaining team cohesion and engagement.
>> Actions to take
• Invest in robust technologies that foster collaboration in 
real-time and on a project basis
• Design innovative meeting spaces that connect people from 
any location
• Ensure everyone has secure access to the tools and 
information they need to be productive, anywhere
6Foundry Future of Work Study 2022. June 23, 2022.
2  |  Building engagement and sustaining culture
Great cultures leverage their organization’s unique mission, purpose, and values — all of which contribute to strength-
ening their identity, inspiring their employees, and delivering on their brand promise to customers. A great culture is, 
indeed, what sets an organization apart from its competitors. But without adequate support, resources, and opportu-
nities for professional growth, remote employees face feelings of isolation, reduced work-life boundaries, and distrac-
tions. They may also feel disconnected from the company’s values and mission.
“ A sense of belonging and inclusion must be a focus for employers. It ensures that all 
employees, regardless of their background 
and experiences, can be connected with
equal opportunity and create a healthier, 
more successful future together.7 “
>> Actions to take
 
• Provide employees with the autonomy to work flexibly
• Empower employees to reach their potential with innovative tools 
and data insights
• Create accessible and inclusive spaces that encourage 
employees to connect with one another
• Make sure diversity and inclusion are key components of your 
recruiting practices
• Leverage communication technologies for team building activities 
and regular check-ins to foster a sense of purpose and belonging
7 Fortune. The key to hybrid work productivity? Getting the ROI of your commute right. February 8, 2023.
3  |  Increased productivity and performance
About three-quarters of all U.S. companies are in the process 
of adopting a hybrid work model.7 Now, managers need to Study reveals manager perspectives on 
learn how to maximize hybrid work productivity by hybrid work
determining what employees can most effectively work on 
at home, and what to focus on when they come to the office. 
agreed that 
While matching workers with tasks might seem a simple 51% 62% it increases 
task, it isn’t. Without proper guidance in this area, middle motivation
managers will often shoehorn traditional office-centric agreed that 
methods of working into hybrid settings. Leaders must working 
recognize and address the reality that misaligning remote from home believe that 
workers with activities can result in lower productivity, improves it increases 
engagement, and morale, which hurts the company’s bottom employee 76% productivity8
line, as well as employees’ well-being and career success. concentration
*From a University of Birmingham study of 600 managers
So, given the obstacles, can workers truly be more 
productive when working from a location of their choosing? 
Studies have shown that working in an environment that >> Actions to take
suits individual preferences, reduces commute time, and 
presents fewer distractions can enhance a worker’s focus • Design a flexible, seamless work experience that enables 
and efficiency — and with them, productivity. employees to access tools from any location
• Automate processes to empower workers, drive 
efficiency and optimize outcomes
• Manage and leverage information to enable data-driven 
strategies that drive growth and minimize risk
8 Forbes, S., Birkett, H., Evans, L., & Chung, H. (2022). Flexible Working and the Future of Work. Retrieved from Equal Parenting Project.
 4  |  Cybersecurity and data protection
Unsecure home and remote networks are considered by most organizations to be their top security risk, largely due to an
 inability to extend corporate security to virtual office environments. 
 “      62% of organizations offering remote work suffered a data breach that could have been prevented  if the        employees had been coming into the office.       “  – Foundry Future of Work Study 
Robust security measures must be implemented to safeguard sensitive information, and policies communicated to remote workers 
to ensure adherence to security protocols. While most security experts agree there is no single solution that provides ironclad 
protection against cyberattacks and data breaches, they also agree that securing data begins with a multi-layered  
security strategy. 
>> Actions to take 
• Build a plan to orchestrate security across people, processes and technologies
•  Implement end-to-end protection that includes endpoint, network, application and data security based on zero-trust 
authentication
• Educate and empower employees with cybersecurity training
• Ensure your IT team has the expertise and resources to secure, support and enable flexible work
To maintain an engaged, productive workforce, leaders must provide hybrid employees with a seamless, secure work experience, 
as well as the training essential to data protection. Additionally, as cyberthreats become increasingly sophisticated and costly – 
in terms of both financial and reputational damage – cybersecurity takes on even greater importance in building trusted business-
to-business relationships. With data as an organization’s most valuable asset, companies cannot afford  to work in partnership with 
an organization that does not have robust cybersecurity measures in place.
5 .5  C | o Cmompplilaiannce
Compliance is a challenge even in the best of circumstances, and a hybrid workforce adds an 
entirely new layer of regulatory hoops for an organization to jump through. A recent survey by 
Deloitte reveals that regulatory issues are often cited among the top three challenges employers 
face when implementing remote or hybrid work strategies.9  
Further complicating compliance is the increased scrutiny that third-party vendors and partners 
continue to face from customers and regulators monitoring their handling of proprietary data.”9 
For starters, a chief consideration, among many, is how to maintain a culture of compliance across a 
borderless 
workplace when, historically, this has been done with employees working together, side by side. Then, 
organizations must consider the numerous types of remote work, with each type potentially involving 
its own regulatory considerations.
>> Actions to take
• Cultivate a compliance mindset that lives across the entire organization
• Identify, classify, structure and clean up data to eliminate risk
• Adhere to an information governance framework to improve operational data efficiency, ensure 
compliance and gain valuable insights
• Prepare a disaster response plan that supports compliance and mitigates impact.
9Deloitte. Global Remote Work Survey. 2022.
6  |  Sustainable business practices
Another shift associated with hybrid work is the growing importance of sustainable business practices. 
“Although environmental impact has been a focus area for many years, there is a rise in activity around diversity and inclusion, with organizations looking to see how they can improve digital accessibility and enhance the diversity of thought and culture.10 “
Business frameworks such as CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), and DEIB (Diversity, 
Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) are becoming increasingly important across the entire commerce ecosystem as shareholders, 
investors, clients, customers, and workers demand greater accountability from companies and organizations. Those demands include, 
but are not limited to:
• Employee well-being: Offering employees the opportunity to avoid commutes and work in a location of their choosing can lead to reduced 
stress levels and improved work-life balance. This, in turn, can lead to an increase in job satisfaction, productivity, and retention.
• Environment: By adopting sustainable practices, such as eliminating the need for daily commuting, a hybrid employee is contributing to a 
reduced environmental footprint. An employer may contribute to reducing the carbon footprint created by its office space. 
• Cost savings: Remote work reduces expenses. For the employee, the costs associated with travel to an office, and, for the employer, the 
costs associated with maintaining office space.
• Social responsibility: A commitment to social causes and frameworks, such as CSR and DEIB, fosters a positive company image, strength-
ens relationships with stakeholders, and attracts socially conscious employees and customers.
Global talent pool: A company’s position on sustainable business practices enhances its ability to attract talent. In fact, 66% of respon-
• dents in one study noted that a company’s mission and core values must align with their own when applying for a job11
>> Actions to take: Sustainable practices give meaning to work and build a positive perception in the marketplace. In recent years, 
sustainability has become an essential component of doing business, from attracting top talent to attracting new customers. Beyond 
benefiting the planet and society, sustainability measures correlate with financial performance, according to a Bain & 
Company study.12 
10Ricoh Customer Discovery Report 2023. 
11ICIMS. 3 sustainability initiatives to help attract and retain talent. April 22, 2022.
12Bain & Company. Do ESG efforts create value? April 17, 2023.
How can leaders optimize operations for long-term results?
Implementing processes and practices to build a hybrid workforce is no simple task. It requires aligning workers not 
only with tasks, but with each other — not only through technologies, but through an engaging and inclusive culture. 
Doing all this successfully may require a C-suite mindset shift.
After all, yesterday’s workplace is gone forever, and today’s is still taking shape. One thing is certain, however. Your organiza-
tion’s success hinges on your ability to manage a hybrid workforce, challenge your own expectations and assumptions, and keep 
evolving your business … so you’re prepared for whatever the future holds.
Strategic investment in 
your people — and the 
right technology, tools 
and processes to support 
them — is key to 
optimizing your operations 
for long-term success. 
In addition, choosing 
partners who can advise 
and support you on the 
journey will accelerate 
your results.
Your partner in building connections
Ricoh works with organizations of all sizes and across industries to drive modernization and create efficiencies that 
support collaboration, teamwork, technology integration, and results-based process improvement.
Our people are customer obsessed, and we thrive on making meaningful connections among data, systems, and people, 
and partnering with our clients to uncover and make strategic use of their information.
Our agnostic approach means we don’t favor one technology, solution, or team for service delivery. Instead, we take a 
human-centered, custom approach to bring the best people, technologies, and partners together to solve our clients’ 
challenges. If you’d like more information or to explore solutions for your business, we’re ready to talk.
About Ricoh
At Ricoh, we are unlocking the power of our customers’ information, processes, and abilities so they can respond to 
change and provide the best possible experiences for their employees and customers. By unleashing the full power 
of trapped information, organizations can unlock the full potential of their people, respond to change with actionable 
insights, and create more meaningful human experiences. 
For further information, please visit www.ricoh-usa.com
 
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