Hybrid work is the norm for many companies. As of midyear 2024, 58% of organizations have a hybrid or flexible attendance policy. 28% of organizations are “employee choice,” meaning they have office space available but no requirements for employees to use . This is a CBRE Americas Consulting, which started tracking office policies for over 340 U.S. companies in January 2023.
This guide gives you everything you need to know about hybrid work, including what it is, how to structure and implement it, the different types of hybrid work models, strategies for successful hybrid work, the latest hybrid work trends, and the future of hybrid work. Let’s dig in.
You most likely have heard of the debate: hybrid work vs fully remote vs fully in office. Let’s start with fully in office, which we can refer to as the traditional working method where employees are typically in the office five days a week. On the other end of the spectrum is fully remote, which refers to workers who don’t go into any office for any part of their work day. In light of recent battles between organizations mandating their employees return to the office full-time and employees arguing for flexible work, hybrid work has emerged as the happy middle ground.
What does hybrid work mean? In hybrid work, employees split time between the office and home (or a third workplace). Unlike traditional working methods, hybrid work schedules may require employees to spend specific days in the office, a minimum number of days in the office, a combination of both minimum and specific days, or go to the office as needed.
With hybrid work, work doesn’t only take place inside the office or at the employees home; many employees choose to work from areas where they are most productive, known as “third places” such as coffee shops, airport lounges, coworking spaces, and many more. Workspaces closer to where individuals live are growing and are contributing to flexible ways of working.
Hybrid work can lead to increased productivity, higher job satisfaction, while simultaneously solving many of the challenges of fully remote work. Many employees report enjoying the flexibility that comes with a hybrid work model.
Hybrid work offers the flexibility that employees want for a better work-life balance but still offers in-person interaction that enhances collaboration and connection. More than half of organizations have a hybrid or flexible attendance policy (CBRE). The policy may vary depending on the company’s industry, but most organizations now expect people to work at the office two to four days per week, with three days in the office kind of the sweet spot.
On the topic of attendance policies, companies have different ways of structuring their hybrid work schedules. CBRE found that of the 58% of organizations that require one to four days in the office per week, 81% have a set expectation on the required frequency and minimum days (e.g., three days per week) versus 19% that have designated organization-wide days (e.g., Tuesday and Thursday). Flex Index found that 60% of companies have a minimum day in-office policy of three days, with two days being the second most popular. Industries with greater equipment dependencies also tend to require more days of in-office work.
Learn more: How to structure hybrid work to maximize productivity and joy?
Hot desking, also known as “desk hoteling,” is a major part of what makes hybrid work work. Hot desking is a workplace strategy where employees share desks, allowing for flexible work arrangements. As companies downsize their office space during the pandemic, many see offices become too small for the influx of people. Hot desking serves as a solution to the “more people than desk” problem and business goals of saving costs on real estate and conserving energy use. In addition, this gives employees the flexibility to sit in different locations and next to different people, improving collaboration and workplace relationships.
Learn more: What Is Desk Hoteling? Desk Hoteling vs. Hot Desking
Hybrid work offers many benefits, like flexibility and decreased time commuting. However, new ways of working come with new challenges, such as feelings of isolation and disconnect from colleagues. Below, we discuss the benefits and downsides of hybrid work in more detail.
Employees want the ability to choose when and where they work, allowing for a better work-life balance where employees can more easily integrate their personal and professional responsibilities. Flexibility is especially important for women, caretakers, people with different racial backgrounds, and people with disabilities. According to BCG, 92% of females, 89% of caregivers, and 95% of people with disabilities say that “flexible work options are important or very important in driving their decision to stay in or leave their job.” Hybrid work may be one of the greatest ways to achieve more diversity in the workforce.
“The reality is human beings who are women or femme presenting, who have a racial minority identity, or who experience chronic or mental illness have a different experience and different needs.” - Bethany Nicole Smith, Workplace Experience Specialist
Another considerable benefit of hybrid work for employees is the reduced commute. In 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the average one-way commute to work was 27.6 minutes. That’s 230 hours a year to and from work—the equivalent of almost 29 eight-hour workdays (Gallup)! Long commutes are also associated with high blood pressure, tension, anger, stiff necks, fatigue, lower back pain, and obesity. In 2022, Gallup found that commutes of just 30 minutes are linked to higher stress and anger.
Thus, less time spent commuting means more time for personal activity and reduced stress. It can also mean more time being productive at work, which is a win for organizations as well. Workers on average devote approximately 35% of their saved time from not commuting to their primary job, according to research at the University of Chicago.
“Hybrid employees gain back roughly two or three hours each week due to reduced commuting—with a portion of this time being allocated to more work hours. They also tend to be more productive during their remote work days owing to fewer interruptions and quieter home-based working environments.” - Artis Rozentals, CEO of DeskTime
Lastly, some employees are more productive at home without office distractions. For workers in the office who want to focus, there’s a new trend going around: Workers distracted by office chitchat are pretending to be in Zoom meetings to signal to colleagues, ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’ Employees can benefit from finishing tasks requiring heads-down, focused time at home by not being constantly interrupted by office chitchat.
Employers benefit from hybrid work through cost savings, energy reduction, access to a broader talent pool, and increased employee satisfaction and retention. Fewer employees in the office at any time means smaller space is needed. This can be a facilities benefit of hybrid work as smaller spaces generally require less energy and maintenance to upkeep. Many organizations have actually reduced their office space after adopting hybrid work to save on real estate costs and associated overhead costs, such as cooling/heating and electricity. For example, Cisco cut half its real estate footprint when implementing hybrid work and saved roughly $500 million.
“Companies that allow their employees to work from home or other remote locations can save money on office space, utilities, and other expenses. For example, my clients, a mid-size IT services company, were able to reduce their office space by 30% and save $1.2 million per year by implementing a hybrid work model.” - Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts and “Hybrid Expert”
The pattern of organizations reducing office real estate has led to an all-time high in office vacancy rate. In the second quarter of 2024, “the office sector set a record vacancy rate at 20.1%, breaking the 20% barrier for the first time in history,” a Moody’s analysis published. And according to Cushman & Wakefield’s midyear U.S. macro outlook for commercial real estate, the overall office vacancy rate will reach a 21.6% peak in the second half of 2025.
Watch: MillerKnoll’s Katie Finlayson on Needing New Space Utilization Benchmarks
There are also specific HR benefits of hybrid work as well. Hybrid work gives organizations the advantage of accessing a broader talent pool. Employers can hire within a larger radius of the office, as employees may be more willing to make the longer commutes if it’s only a few days a week. Organizations with hybrid work also see higher employee satisfaction and retention rates. Nick Bloom and his colleagues published in their Nature article that hybrid work reduced quit rates by one-third. They estimated that each quit cost about $20,000, which means lowering attrition rates can help organizations save millions a year.
“In 2019, the typical employee lived 10 miles away from work on average. That has crept up closer to 30 miles—about three times bigger than it was. If workers only have to come in one or two days a week, they can bear that commute one or two times a week versus doing it daily.” - Jose Maria Barrero, WFH Research Co-founder and assistant professor of finance
Watch: WFH Research’s Jose Maria Barrero Shares In-Depth Studies on Hybrid Work
Hybrid work not only helps attract and keep talent but also leads to a more diverse work environment, helping to drive innovation and cultural awareness in the workplace. BCG surveyed 1700 companies of varying sizes and different country locations and found that diverse management teams were more innovative than less diverse ones. Companies with above-average diversity produced a greater proportion of revenue from innovation (45% of the total) than companies with below-average diversity (26%). This 19% innovation-related advantage translates into overall better financial performance.
Hybrid work leads to new ways of working and needs. The first is that employees work in multiple locations in a hybrid work environment, most commonly at home and the office. For some, there may be a third location (i.e., coffee shop, library, coworking space) that employees also use. Having the flexibility to move between locations means that employees need the proper tech setup to stay connected and have access to everything they need to do their best work.
“We really feel that being remote-first offers a ton of flexibility. It takes the commute out of the equation. But to be truly productive, you need a workstation, you need high speed internet, you need a secure location, you need a quiet location at times.” - Tiffany Mosher Taylor, Head of People at Canoe Intelligence
Organizations need a robust tech infrastructure and up-to-date tech stack to bridge the physical gaps that hybrid work can cause. Because remote employees are not physically in the office, they may miss out on informal, spontaneous, in-person conversations. Working in different locations can lead to communication breakdowns when leaders are not intentional about including all employees in the loop. To mitigate this problem, leaders should set clear policies about communication norms and expectations in a hybrid environment so that all employees know what tools to use, expected response times, and best practices for working in distributed teams.
Read more: Hybrid Communication is Broken: The Pros and Cons of Synchronous and Async
Another hybrid work challenge is ensuring time spent in the office is purposeful. Employees often point to socializing and collaborating with team members as the main reasons they want to be in the office, but coordinating when people will be in the office can be challenging. Challenges can typically be distilled down into three different categories: place, time, and activities.
Being in the right place can be challenging. Many employees may be spread out throughout a city, region, state, or even country and globally. Bringing employees together to the same place can be time-consuming and costly, and finding a location that works well for employees (and being a location that they want to travel to several days a week) brings about complex logistical challenges. See what happens when employees show up to the office on the wrong day.
In addition to place, time is a very important consideration in hybrid work. Considerations such as which days employees will be in the office and proper planning of employee resources, such as ensuring desks and monitors are available, are extremely important in ensuring a successful hybrid work experience. It’s also important to factor in employees who may be in different time zones. Is your company able to collaborate asynchronously? Does your work schedule have at least a few hours of each day that overlap with employees in other time zones
The beauty of hybrid work is that it shifts the focus to what people do instead of where they do the work. For example, there have been more and more calls to use the office for relationship-building and collaborative work while leaving more independent work for days employees are at home. That means hybrid work schedules are dictated by each individual and team roles and responsibilities, making coordinating in-office days another factor that impacts the success of hybrid work. Organizations need to focus on designing spaces that best support workplace experience activities.
“There will never be a fixed or predictable answer to a very flexible and dynamic problem, so we must embrace the chaos and learn from it.”- Phil Kirschner, Workplace Strategy Leader at McKinsey & Company
Due to its unique challenges, hybrid work requires better management to counter the dangers of proximity bias, or distance bias, which refers to our brain’s tendency to put more importance on the people and things closer to us than those farther away. This bias may cause remote workers to feel overlooked for promotions or opportunities compared to in-office colleagues. They might also miss out on company culture and networking.
“It wasn't that people were leaving me out on purpose. It was an unconscious bias that because I was not there in the building, that sometimes I was not being thought about or undervalued.” - Sacha Connor, Founder/CEO of Virtual Work Insider
Watch: Sacha Connor on Pioneering Remote Work at Clorox
While hybrid work has many benefits, such as allowing employees flexibility to customize their schedules around their personal lives, it is also important to maintain a work-life balance. Occasionally, the lines between work life and personal life may blur, leading to burnout or difficulty disconnecting at the end of the day.
Companies can employ many hybrid work-life balance strategies to keep their employees happy and productive. This includes setting clear expectations and norms, encouraging regular breaks and time off, investing in technology for work-life balance, fostering a support company culture, and more.
Learn More: How to promote work-life flow for an engaged and connected workforce
The transition from full-time work in the office to hybrid (or flexible working arrangements) has accelerated ever since many companies began instituting return-to-office mandates in 2021. Many employees report being more satisfied with a hybrid working arrangement, which combines many of the benefits of being in the office (seeing coworkers and collaborating in person) with many of the benefits of working from home (increased flexibility, working independently and asynchronously).
Hybrid work is not going away anytime soon. Most workers and employers alike see hybrid work as a compromise between being fully in the office and being fully remote. In fact, according to Gallup, nine in 10 remote-capable employees prefer some remote work flexibility, with the majority preferring hybrid.
Hybrid work is here to stay. While some companies will switch back to full-time in-office work, many more will continue to focus on flexible hybrid work schedules to take advantage of many of its benefits.
Many hybrid work trends have emerged as companies and employees navigate this new normal. They will continue to develop over time, especially as most companies focus more on hybrid work arrangements rather than fully in-office or remote. Here are some of the biggest trends happening this year:
Companies are looking to maximize their office space, which often involves reducing space or moving to a more convenient area for their workers to commute to. Much like the flexible work benefit of hybrid work, companies will also embrace flexible leases or coworking space instead of long-term and sometimes costly leases for space they may not need.
As companies continue to bring workers back to the office anywhere from two to five days a week, many will compromise with their workers on a two to three days a week hybrid schedule to allow for some of the benefits of remote work and in-person work.
It will be more important than ever to maximize both time in the office and time working from home under a hybrid model, and companies will need to leverage technology uniquely suited to these purposes. Making it as easy as possible for employees to come into their offices, book desks and conference rooms to collaborate, and see which coworkers will be in will be crucial. Companies will leverage hybrid work tools like Skedda to empower their hybrid workforce.
Depending on the hybrid work arrangement, it is likely that not everyone at the company will be in the office on the same day and at the same time. Due to the globally distributed nature of many companies' workforces, developing asynchronous communication protocols and processes will be more important than ever. Tools like Loom, email, and chat will be essential to allow workers to collaborate regardless of where (or when) they’re working.
The days of the corner office with a view of the skyline and dedicated cubicles are long gone. Many businesses will utilize a shared office design, allowing employees to book spaces best suited for their unique needs in the form of hot desking or desk hoteling. Office design will also incorporate shared spaces such as more breakout areas, meeting rooms, and multi-use spaces.
Let’s face it—nobody wants to commute an hour into an office to just sit by themselves on a Zoom call. Employees will embrace smart hybrid work when it can improve their performance and benefit them professionally, and when hybrid work is done in a common sense way. The only way hybrid work can be successful is if employees are fully bought in, empowered to do their best work, and see the benefit themselves.
As hybrid work continues to evolve and more companies and HR managers become skilled at enabling their hybrid workforce, this will lead to clearer expectations, more formalized rules, and more fixed schedules so that every employee knows what is expected of them and when (and how often) they’re required to be in the office. Most companies will require two to three days in the office per week, while others may get creative and offer alternating weekly schedules (such as two days one week and three days the next). Still, others may leave it up to the individuals but require a minimum number of days per week or month.
Read more: 12 Months of Hybrid Work (in 2023)
Successful hybrid work requires the integration of five key categories: office space design, policy, technology, training and mentoring, and communication and feedback. All five areas need to support your in-person and remote employees for an engaged, productive, and innovative workforce in the hybrid work era. Below, we go into more detail on these categories and how organizations can attain a good score in each.
Download: 2024 Not Another Hybrid Work Debate Report
Workplaces must change to adapt to new hybrid working patterns. Now that employees aren’t in the office five days a week, organizations must be smarter about efficiently using space. Fewer workers in the office at any time means a smaller demand for space so that organizations can downsize their office real estate.
Employees now mainly go into the office to socialize and collaborate with their teams. 58% of employees go to the office for connection (CBRE). At a time when employees are feeling more lonely and disengaged at work, having a welcoming office where employees can form relationships is essential to improving engagement.
“Offices should be designed to support human connections, collaboration, and creativity. It’s important to provide unstructured time for casual interactions and chats in the office that don’t happen when working remotely. These moments are what helps employee engagement and builds a sense of belonging.” - Maja Paleka, Co-founder and Director at Juggle Strategies
In a survey of 14,000 office workers across nine countries and ten industries, Gensler research found there are four categories of spaces essential for office workers:
Most (90%) office workers have easy access to at least one of these spaces, yet only 47% have access to all four. That may mean repurposing underutilized spaces to a space type that fits your hybrid workforce’s needs.
Learn More: How to Create Hybrid Office Neighborhoods With Skedda
Genser research also found that 72% of employees are actually positive about returning to the office. However, they don’t like going to an office that doesn’t accommodate their new ways of working. Organizations need to make the commute worth it.
86% of younger workers said they would be willing to come into the office more often for amenity-rich neighborhoods that provided their ideal mix of experiences (Gensler). They want spaces that support seamless collaboration, social interaction, and creative brainstorming. However, only 47% of workers believe their work environments are equipped for this new era of hybrid work (Cisco).
Read More: From Mandate to Magnet: Office Design for Great Hybrid Workplaces.
It’s time for organizations to reevaluate their office space designs to meet the evolving needs of their hybrid workforce. Facilities managers, IT, and workspace designers should consider new workplace metrics when considering how their offices meet hybrid working needs.
“If we’re designing inclusive environments, then we have to design to the edges. They need to respond absolutely to everybody.” - Janet Pogue McLaurin, Global Director of Workplace Research at Gensler
Watch: Gensler’s Janet Pogue McLaurin on Crafting the Future Office
Successful hybrid work adoption requires clear guidelines and a well-crafted communication plan. CBRE found that common characteristics of successful hybrid programs included aligning employee behaviors and leadership expectations and having documented workplace policies and guidelines. Good policies balance flexibility, team collaboration and coordination, productivity, and business objectives.
Organizations should clearly outline expectations, guidelines, and procedures in their hybrid work policy for remote and on-site work. That includes setting core work hours, expectations around availability and response time, and communication methods for varying urgency. Organizations that have communicated leadership expectations clearly are most likely to see the desired behaviors from employees.
“Companies can do better by having the proper policies and procedures in place to ensure the viability of their workforce.”- Tara Vasdani, founder of Remote Law Canada
Watch: Ep 8: Hybrid Work's Legal Labyrinth: Navigating with Tara Vasdani of Remote Law Canada
Hybrid work research shows that the most productive and engaged employees are ones whose teams can decide together on their hybrid work schedules. Letting teams decide on which days they’ll be in the office together gives purpose to those in-person days. According to BCG, team-decided hybrid models yield a 13% boost in joy over top-down mandates (where the CEO or executives decide on the hybrid work schedule). Employees who enjoy their work are 49% less likely to consider taking a new job than employees who don’t enjoy their work.
Additionally, employees have continuously stated that in-office days are best for collaborating and forming stronger connections. As such, organizations should intentionally plan their office days for in-person collaboration, relationship-building, and work that’s more challenging to do in a virtual setting. That could be mentoring, creative brainstorming, and resolving conflicts. Microsoft found that employees who met with their managers in person within the first 90 days were more likely to seek feedback, feel included and trusted by their team, build strong relationships with colleagues, feel supported when discussing tough issues with their manager, and get effective coaching and feedback.
Download Checklist: 10 steps for a smooth transition to hybrid work
Organizations increasingly use tech to be more efficient and productive, especially when working with distributed teams. 83% of employees said that good technology was an important factor in their work—only behind pay equity, a supportive manager, and health benefits (Owl Labs).
Hybrid work tools and technology can bring many benefits, such as breaking down physical distances, streamlining project management, enhancing collaboration and communication, and promoting productivity and accountability. However, these tools need to be easily accessible and reliable to be effective. They also need to be used in the right ways for the right reasons for hybrid workplaces to truly reap the benefits.
“What separates those workers who are productive from those who are disconnected and frustrated is not stress, but whether they have the right resources on an individual and organizational level to help them be productive anywhere.” - Accenture Future of Work Study 2022 report
An organization’s hybrid work tech stack should incorporate both synchronous and asynchronous tools:
In a hybrid environment, employees may find themselves in back-to-back meetings that leave them no time for extended periods of deep work. Leveraging asynchronous tools can help decrease some of these meetings and free up time for employees to work on projects requiring deep concentration.
Read more: When to Zoom, Loom, or Get a Room
Technology is also essential for leading productive hybrid meetings. Organizations should use conference room technology to ensure smooth communication, collaboration, and engagement—irrespective of physical location. The right hybrid meeting room technology and equipment ensures teams scattered across a distributed environment can maintain high levels of productivity and connection.
“Digital tools and technology play a crucial role in connecting distributed organizations and enabling productivity. Slack, Teams, Miro, Mural, Figma—they all end up being really important in how teams actually collaborate asynchronously and synchronously.” - Brian Elliot, Co-founder of Future Forum
Implementing new tech—along with good change management—can ensure a higher adoption rate among your workforce. That means setting up a clear timeline early on that informs your employees of the adoption process. Additionally, providing training and consistent messaging throughout, and a robust adoption guide can help all employees get on board.
Download Checklist: Must-Have Tech for Productive Hybrid Meetings
In a hybrid work setting, managers do not always see what their employees are doing. This may lead to proximity bias, where managers' unconscious bias of preferring things closer to them influences their thoughts and beliefs about their employees. Proximity bias can lead to discrimination between how in-office and remote employees are viewed. For instance, remote workers were promoted 31% less frequently than people who worked some time in an office in 2023 (Live Data Technologies).
“We end up rewarding people based on the visual aspects of hustle culture—as opposed to outcomes. How do we actually make sure that our reward systems are based on the delivery of outcomes—not on presenteeism?” - Brian Elliott, Co-founder of Future Forum
Watch: Brian Elliott on Rethinking Productivity & Leadership
As such, organizations should train their managers to battle proximity bias and shift their focus from presence to performance. That means managers should measure outcomes instead of how often the employees are in the office. To do that, they need to implement equitable processes and systems while managing hybrid teams. Organizations should also revamp their performance management to focus on employees meeting their goals and objectives instead of judging them based on "productivity theater."
“Hybrid work is harder than full-time in-office work. It requires better managers.” - Rob Sadow, CEO and co-founder of Scoop
Managers can help their distributed teams succeed in a hybrid environment by establishing clear expectations for in-person office time, particularly for young employees who need development and mentoring. Organizations should structure intentional onboarding and mentorship programs that include a series of training sessions, milestone check-ins, and regular evaluations to gauge progress. In-person training helps new hires understand their tasks and priorities easier, as they can receive close guidance and immediate feedback. They are also vital to building foundational solid relationships that later lead to higher trust and teamwork.
“Mentoring is something that’s very much better done in person. And the fact that it’s hard to mentor also will make it harder to recruit. If you look at 20- to 29-year-olds, they have a very strong preference for having at least two, three days a week on site.” - Nick Bloom, Stanford Economics Professor & WFH Research Co-founder
Read More: 6 Tips for People Managers in the Year of Efficient Hybrid Work
Clear and consistent communication is crucial to implementing a successful hybrid work strategy. Organizations should use multiple communication channels to ensure all employees receive the messages. Messages should be clear, concise, and aligned with organizational objectives and employee needs. Additionally, communication should not be a one-way street. Encourage employees to provide feedback, ask questions, and share their experiences.
“I have weekly one-on-ones with my executive staff and my direct reports. I have biweekly skip meetings. I have monthly meetings with our senior leadership team, quarterly meetings with people avengers, and I leverage donut chat to the nth degree to just have random pairing one-on-ones.” - Tiffany Taylor, Head of People at Canoe Intelligence
Leveraging multiple ways to gain insights into improving your hybrid work experience will be key to ensuring your hybrid work strategy adapts to the changes. Collect feedback from all your stakeholders regularly. That can mean conducting pulse surveys, roundtable discussions, heat maps, and employee Net Promoter Scores (NPS) to get a pulse on how your hybrid work approach is doing. Often, asking for feedback during the exit survey is too late.
Remember, hybrid work is still relatively new for everyone. Implementing best practices, monitoring results, adapting to challenges, and improving on failures are the only ways to get better at hybrid work. Below, we discuss more details on how to implement hybrid work.
It’s important to implement hybrid work in a way that puts the employee first. Without their buy-in, most hybrid work implementations will fail. Explaining the reasoning behind the hybrid work requirements, as well as the benefits for the employee, will go a long way to making hybrid a success.
Here are steps you can take to ensure your hybrid work implementation is a success:
Have a clear vision of what you want to achieve with a hybrid work model and how you will measure success. Then, communicate these goals to your workforce to get their buy-in on the changes. Establishing clear expectations of the employees upfront (such as how often they need to come into the office, which days they need to come in, and expectations for working from home) and getting their buy-in will go a long way toward holding them accountable to these goals.
A hybrid work model requires more resources and support than a traditional in-office model. An employee may not have a dedicated desk or all of the equipment they’re used to having at their disposal. Make it easy and straightforward for the employees to self-serve, such as booking their own desks, and have systems and support in place to get them the tools and resources they need to do their jobs effectively, irrespective of location.
Let’s face it—everyone has different work styles and needs. Some may prefer the collaborative nature of work, while others may prefer to work independently and communicate with their colleagues asynchronously. By building a culture of trust, you can enable all different types of employees to be successful. Encourage frequent and transparent communication, create opportunities for social interaction, and allow employees to bring their best and most authentic selves to work.
Feedback is a gift, and it’s important to continuously request feedback from employees regarding what’s working, what’s not working, and ideas they may have to improve. Hybrid work is new to most companies, and with any new program, there will be bumps along the road. Asking for feedback can help you make your hybrid work program the best it can be. It is also a great way to measure progress as you can see scores improving over time (such as if you do a quarterly Hybrid work NPS survey).
Even if most of your workforce is located around the same geographic area and will be commuting to the same office, you should still optimize your tech stack for remote collaboration. Certain teams may come in on different days and you want to ensure that those working remotely aren’t left out of important discussions. Additionally, empower your sales team to collaborate remotely with prospects and customers, as well as internal stakeholders who collaborate with vendors, agencies, and other individuals who are not regularly in the company's office headquarters.
During the return-to-office debate, many CEOs called employees back to the office for “better collaboration and productivity.” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated, "collaborating and inventing is easier and more effective when we’re in person.” But what does that actually look like in a hybrid work environment?
Historically, when employees worked in the office full-time, collaboration might look like physically meeting up in a conference room to brainstorm or physically sitting next to one another to ask quick questions. With hybrid setups come new challenges, and companies see that they need to rethink what a collaborative office space will look like.
Here’s a definition of collaborative workspace in a hybrid office that we’ve come up with:
A collaborative workspace is where employees can come together to collaborate on projects, exchange ideas, and work collectively towards a shared goal. The workspace in a hybrid office includes both the physical and virtual environments, as some employees work remotely and some in the office throughout the day. A successful hybrid work model aims to connect all employees—regardless of location—so there’s seamless collaboration and communication at all times during the workday.
A hybrid work setup brings about its own set of unique challenges when it comes to creating a collaborative workspace. Since not all employees are in the office everyday, finding ways for teams to collaborate effectively requires more planning and forethought. Additionally, connecting in-office with remote employees requires additional equipment that organizations need for seamless collaboration. A workplace management software like Skedda can help solve these problems by allowing employees to see who will be in the office ahead of time and book the spaces needed for effective collaboration.
Effective collaboration in a hybrid work model differs from a traditional five-day in-office workweek. When employees are in the office only certain days of the week, collaborative time must be intentional and well coordinated for it to be effective. Here’s a five-step approach:
Effective collaboration starts with a clear purpose. Organizations must define desired outcomes and measure success to guide their collaboration efforts. Project leaders should set clear goals, deliverables, and expectations for their teams, focusing on productive meetings and providing a clear roadmap to boost efficiency.
Organizations must implement various communication channels and establish clear norms to facilitate collaboration between remote and in-office employees. To ensure equity, companies should prioritize inclusive practices, such as providing equal opportunities for participation and input from all team members.
Organizations must foster a culture of inclusivity by providing opportunities for employees to build relationships and bond with one another. Employees who feel included and comfortable with their teams are more likely to want to work together and produce better results. Consider implementing team-building activities to strengthen relationships and foster a sense of belonging.
Leaders should establish clear work hours, availability, and communication guidelines to ensure smooth operations. Organizations should also design the physical office space to accommodate diverse work styles, combining collaborative and individual work areas. Implementing a desk reservation system like Skedda can optimize space utilization and employee satisfaction.
Organizations must provide employees with the necessary technology, skills, and resources to effectively work remotely. Training on virtual collaboration techniques is also essential to optimize team interactions and productivity. Organizations should provide ongoing support and skill development to help employees adapt to the evolving technological landscape.
Read more: How To Train Managers for Hybrid Work
Companies can unlock creativity, innovation, and productivity by fostering a collaborative culture that transcends physical location. This requires a strategic blend of technology, physical space, and company culture to ensure all employees feel connected, valued, and empowered to succeed.
While in-office days should be intentionally scheduled to support in-person collaboration, it’s not always the case that everyone can meet at the same time. Companies with globally dispersed teams may rarely have all team members in the same physical location at any given time.
Thus, hybrid meetings—meetings with both in-person and remote attendees—have become increasingly popular. Cisco research found that up to 98% of all meetings will include at least one participant attending remotely. As such, companies need to ensure that their office space and tech stack are up to par to support hybrid meetings. Additionally, companies should train employees to be ready to lead productive hybrid meetings.
See: Top 5 Companies Setting Up Hybrid Meeting Rooms Right
While there is no single “right” way to lead hybrid meetings, there are key elements and best practices to keep in mind to meet the needs of your in-person and virtual employees. Here’s how you can incorporate top hybrid meeting best practices to create a more balanced and productive hybrid work environment:
Hybrid meetings require additional preparation due to the need for more technology, diverse methods for inviting participants, and the inclusion of a global audience in different time zones. Key considerations include setting your meeting room up properly, creating an agenda beforehand to avoid confusion, and sending inclusive invitations with clear instructions.
In hybrid meetings, it's essential to introduce and connect both in-person and virtual participants, especially if it's their first time meeting. Use video conferencing to enhance face-to-face interaction, incorporate team-building activities that can be done both onsite and remotely, and encourage sharing between both groups to strengthen their connection. Ensure balanced participation by rotating speaking turns to encourage equal involvement.
When facilitating hybrid meetings, managing the dynamics between in-person and virtual participants is important to prevent imbalances where in-person attendees dominate the conversation. You can maintain balance by taking turns speaking, leveraging tech tools for smoother interactions, using AI to enhance efficiency, and incorporating breakout sessions to support participation.
In hybrid meetings, clear communication can be challenging due to platform differences. Utilize best practices to ensure effective communication, such as summarizing key points for better understanding, using AI to document meeting proceedings, and limiting distractions to help with focus.
Post-meeting follow-up is crucial for clarifying any confusion and improving future hybrid meetings. To mitigate confusion caused by tech issues or side conversations, document clear action items and next steps for participants to review. Don't forget to gather feedback on the meeting format from both in-person and virtual attendees for improvements.
By implementing these best practices, organizations can streamline the management of hybrid meetings, enhance collaboration, and create a more inclusive and efficient meeting environment for both in-person and virtual participants.
Unlike traditional in-office meetings, hybrid meetings span physical spaces and the virtual realm. That means you have both in-person and remote participants, and connecting them all together regardless of location is crucial. These seven key technologies can help bridge that distance:
Hybrid meetings necessitate both virtual and physical spaces. To ensure smooth execution, organizations should utilize conference room reservation systems to streamline booking and provide essential information to participants. By integrating with existing calendars, these platforms enhance efficiency and reduce scheduling conflicts, ultimately improving overall meeting productivity. See how a conference room reservation system like Skedda can make it easier to book meeting rooms in your workplace.
High-quality video conferencing is crucial for effective hybrid meetings. By investing in advanced equipment and user-friendly platforms, organizations can create immersive experiences that bridge the gap between in-person and remote participants. Integrating video conferencing tools with existing productivity suites can further streamline workflows and enhance collaboration.
Advanced display technology enhances hybrid meetings. Large screens, interactive displays, and video walls improve visual communication and collaboration. These tools foster inclusivity by making remote participants feel more engaged. Emerging technologies, such as panoramic video cameras and touch-free controls, further elevate the hybrid meeting experience.
Flexible and immersive spaces are crucial for hybrid meetings. By providing comfortable and well-equipped physical spaces and creating engaging virtual experiences, organizations can enhance productivity and engagement for all participants. Emerging technologies like virtual and extended reality offer new possibilities for immersive collaboration.
Digital tools enhance hybrid collaboration. Virtual whiteboards and project management software enable real-time idea sharing and seamless transition from brainstorming to action. These platforms foster creativity and productivity among both in-office and remote teams.
Robust connectivity is essential to ensure seamless collaboration in hybrid environments. Wireless technology and high-speed internet access empower participants to share information effortlessly, regardless of location. This eliminates technical hurdles and promotes efficient knowledge exchange.
AI enhances hybrid meetings by streamlining tasks and improving communication. Smart cameras automatically frame speakers, while AI-powered audio systems reduce noise and boost clarity. Integration with platforms allows for real-time transcriptions and automated note-taking, boosting productivity and accessibility for all participants.
Conference room technology serves as a bridge connecting participants across distances and creating a collaborative space where innovation thrives. In the dynamic landscape of hybrid meetings, technologies that can adapt to different platforms, evolve with advancements, and prove to be wise long-term investments are the keystones to a future-proof hybrid meeting setup.
Organizations must improve the hybrid workplace experience to ensure productivity, employee satisfaction, and a cohesive work culture. According to Gartner, improving the employee workplace experience is the No. 1 priority for 67% of corporate real estate leaders who are increasingly working with the digital workplace team to optimize the hybrid experience.
What makes a great workplace experience? Workplace experience is affected by anything that impacts employees’ ability to do their best work. Examples include an employee’s physical workplace, their manager, salary, technology/tools, and company culture, to name a few. Employees with a positive workplace experience are more productive at work and more likely to stay at their company.
Here are several strategies organizations can implement:
Schedule regular team and one-on-one meetings to ensure alignment and address any concerns or challenges. Invest in tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Zoom that integrate messaging, video conferencing, and document sharing to more effectively communicate.
Allow individuals and teams to choose their in-office and remote work days based on collaboration needs, roles, tasks, and personal preferences. Give employees some structure and guidance by establishing core hours when all team members are available, ensuring overlap between in-office and remote workers.
Provide remote employees with the necessary equipment, such as laptops, monitors, ergonomic chairs, and fast internet access. Since employees rely so heavily on tech to connect and get work done, they must have access to quick and effective IT support in case of emergencies, regardless of location.
Organize virtual or hybrid team-building activities to strengthen relationships and maintain team cohesion. Great Place to Work’s research shows that a great workplace focuses on a strong relationship with leaders, the work employees do, and the people they work with. Ensure remote employees are equally heard and engaged by establishing equitable systems and processes.
Equip leaders with the skills needed to manage and motivate hybrid teams. Offer training on how to effectively work in a hybrid environment, including managing remote teams, using collaboration tools, and maintaining work-life balance.
“Hybrid work is harder than full-time in-office work. It requires better managers.” - Rob Sadow, CEO and co-founder of Scoop
Employees feel like they need to be “always on” in a digitally-connected world. More than half of employees (59%) report burnout, found Aflac in their WorkForce report. Provide access to mental health resources, such as counseling services and wellness programs. Offer guidance on setting up ergonomic home workspaces to prevent physical strain.
Read more: 5 Hybrid Work-Life Balance Strategies to Unplug and Unwind
Set clear goals and expectations for both in-office and remote work to ensure everyone knows what is expected. Use consistent performance metrics that focus on outcomes rather than hours worked to combat proximity bias.
First, foster an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their concerns and suggestions. Then, conduct regular employee surveys to gather feedback on the hybrid work experience and make necessary adjustments.
Create onboarding programs that are equally effective for both remote and in-office employees. Pair new hires with experienced employees to help them integrate into the company culture, regardless of location.
Create office neighborhoods with areas specifically for collaboration, where hybrid teams can work together seamlessly. Implement hot desking systems in the office to accommodate employees' flexible work schedules.
Read more: CBRE Research Reveals 3 Ways To Optimize Office Space for Hybrid Work in 2024
By addressing these areas, organizations can create a hybrid workplace that is not only efficient but also supportive of employee needs and conducive to long-term success.
The percentage of U.S. firms embracing work location flexibility has continued to rise. According to Flex Index’s 2024 Q2 report, 69% of all companies in the U.S. offer some degree of work location flexibility for corporate employees. Technology and professional services companies are most likely to have remote-centric attendance policies. The top five most flexible industries are:
Industries that are equipment-dependent typically have policies for in-office work. The top five least flexible industries are:
However, hybrid work trends may be changing in these less flexible industries. GlobalData found that job postings offering hybrid work increased in industries like travel and tourism, retail, and financial services. In Q2 of 2023, these ten industries posted the most jobs with hybrid work options:
According to GlobalData, these are the top ten job titles for hybrid work in 2023:
Hybrid work is not just here to stay—it’s now the norm. Just 6 out of 158 U.S. CEOs said they will prioritize bringing workers back to the office full-time in 2024, according to The Conference Board. KPMG surveyed U.S. CEOs of companies turning over at least $500 million and found that just one-third expect a full return to the office in the next three years. Nearly half of CEOs have concluded that the future of work is hybrid—up from 34% last year.
“WFH levels have become ‘flat as a pancake.’ My best guess going forwards is for flat WFH levels for probably 2024 and maybe 2025. From about 2026 onwards, I predict slowly rising levels of WFH, driven by improving technology and cohort effects. This is the Nike swoosh effect.” - Nick Bloom, Stanford Economics Professor & WFH Research Co-founder
Hybrid work research shows that organizations that implement hybrid work have a positive return on investment (ROI). Seventy percent of the Fortune 100 operate on a hybrid work schedule (Buildremote), and 97 of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies To Work For 2024 provide hybrid work options (Fortune). The verdict is in—Organizations that prioritize hybrid work will drive higher economic returns and be better prepared for the future of work.
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