Collaboration and communication can be difficult when your team is split between the office and home. If you’ve adopted a hybrid work model, some of your employees might practically never see each other – if some prefer coming to the office from Monday to Wednesday and others on Thursday and Friday, those two groups might rarely, if ever, get together.
But let’s face it: Hybrid work is here to stay. Half of workers and 56% of leaders believe that hybrid work is the best working environment for them.
So, to make flexible work work for everyone, you need the best hybrid office tools. The right tech stack is vital for your team’s productivity, motivation, and efficiency. If you’re looking to scale or even simply to sustain your business, relying on in-person meetings and emails simply won’t cut it.
To help you build the right hybrid work tech stack, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite tools for hybrid workplaces, along with our tips and advice on how to make the most out of each one.
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Building a successful hybrid workplace can be tricky, but the right tech can make all the difference. If you have the right hybrid workplace tools at hand, you can build workflows that are simple and efficient – and that enable your team to get their work done, regardless of where they’re working from.
Technology helps hybrid workplaces in a few different ways, as it enables them to:
Improve collaboration
When your team is scattered across different locations, getting everyone on the same page can feel like herding cats.
Thankfully, nowadays there’s plenty of tools that let everyone share ideas and work together on projects at the same time, in a way that works for everyone. Collaboration is a top priority for employees, too: According to a study by Corel, 41% of workers have left or considered leaving a job due to poor collaboration:
Caption: Collaboration is a top priority for employees, and some have even left a job because of its lack (Source: Corel)
So, if you bring everyone in the same virtual room (or on the same page of a Google Doc), teamwork becomes much easier – sometimes even easier than if everyone were in the same office.
The result? Better ideas and outcomes.
Communicate better
When some of your team members are at home in their PJs and others are in the office, good communication is essential. Good communication tools enable everyone to join the conversation, even if virtual meetings do have the potential to feel a bit awkward at first.
Thankfully, not everything needs to be a Zoom call – sometimes, exchanging a few Slack messages with a coworker are all you need to get started on a project, or you can just tag a person in a ClickUp card to make sure they see the latest update.
Engage and retain workers more readily
With the right technology, you can engage your team and create a hybrid culture where everyone feels involved and seen.
Tools that support flexible working can be very helpful for this, be it to book desks, recognize achievements, onboard new employees, or survey employees to make sure they have the right conditions to do their best work.
Improve accessibility and inclusivity for all teammates
Hybrid workplaces already have the potential to be more inclusive than companies where in-office work is the norm: Not everyone has the same needs, working styles, or peak energy hours, and that’s totally fine, if you have the right hybrid team tools to accommodate your employees’ preferences.
Technology can level the playing field by making sure everyone has access to all the tools and information they need.
Save on office space
Office space is pricey, and let’s be honest – do you really need all of it if half your team is working from home?
With hybrid work tools, you can manage who’s in the office and when, and make better use of the resources you’ve got. Hot desking and space management apps like Officely help you avoid empty desks and overcrowded meeting rooms.
Make data-first decisions about resources and staffing
When you need to make decisions, guesswork is not what you want to base them on. Most hybrid working tools collect tons of data and can provide invaluable insights into how things are really going.
Look for tools that come with strong analytics features to make the most out of the data they collect, whether it’s to track productivity, understand office usage, or figure out who needs more support.
Top hybrid work tools to strengthen your work environment
As a hybrid business built upon a hybrid product, we like to think we’re pretty clued up on the best tools for all things hybrid.
Below you can find our top picks for each category.
Hybrid office scheduling tech
Managing schedules in a hybrid office can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it manually.
Hybrid office scheduling tools are super helpful, whether you need to boost office attendance, offer hot desking to your team, or simplify meeting room bookings.
1. Officely
Officely is an in-Slack app (that also integrates with MS Teams) enabling hybrid businesses to have better visibility over who is in the office, provide a simple hot desking solution to their employees, and encourage them to come in and work together, at least a part of the time.
Officely lets everyone know who’s coming to the office and how many desks are left
Because we get it, your home has your comfy sofa in it and the office… doesn’t. However, the office is where the best conversations happen, which is instrumental in helping your team come up with new solutions and ideas. The solution? Use Officely to boost attendance by incentivizing employees to come to the office, thanks to the bandwagon effect.
Through the app, they can see who’s in each day, find out what’s going on in the office (drinks with the team? An office dog?), book their desk, and use all the amenities they need.
With Officely, your team members can even book a spot for their dogs – which could motivate others to join
And the best part? Officely is so easy to use and adopt because it lives in Slack or MS Teams, i.e. where your workers already are. Yep, no need to install yet another app!
To find out more about the future of hybrid work and how you can use the right tools to build a resilient flexible business, check out our eBook, “Our Flexible Future”.
2. Google Calendar
Sorry Outlook and iCal, we’re going with Google Calendar as the best calendar tool for hybrid offices.
Not only can you book your meeting rooms, easily view other calendars to schedule meetings and use it in conjunction with Gmail, but it also integrates with other project management tools – yes, Google Calendar is yet another in-Slack app – and also with Officely.
If you're looking to book last-minute meetings alongside your standard weekly and monthly ones, you can also integrate Google Calendar with Officely's Find a Room feature. Find a Room enables Officely users to find and book meeting rooms with two clicks.
We find Google Calendar the most intuitive calendar app, and with its seamless integration it can be used to optimize processes across businesses, departments and projects with minimal hassle.
Communication tools for hybrid workspaces
Keeping everyone in the loop can be tricky when your team is split between the office and home. Luckily, with the right communication tools, staying connected and in sync is now easy – so there’s no reason to rely only on emails anymore (although they do remain the most popular way to communicate with coworkers for 31% of employees surveyed by Project.co).
3. Slack
As a communication tool, there’s very little that Slack can’t do. Not only do you have a channel for your whole workplace, but you can create separate channels for departments or projects, send 1-1 messages, and host video and audio calls (a.k.a. Huddles).
Another huge feature of Slack is the in-Slack apps. It seems there is a Slack app for every occasion, enabling you to send alerts, manage workspaces, celebrate birthdays, and even book desks, all without leaving Slack itself.
4. Zoom
Sometimes an email or a Slack message isn’t enough, but an in-person meeting is not convenient. That’s where virtual meetings come in. And, we all know that at the top of all the virtual meeting tools is Zoom.
Undoubtedly, Zoom is one of the most well known video calling tools on the market. And there’s a reason for its position in top place; with screen sharing, white boards, in-call messaging and a webinar capacity, Zoom makes collaboration as easy as it would be in person.
5. Google Meet
For those who are already using the Google Workspace, Google Meet is a natural extension of where you’re already working.
The main pull of Google Meet is how easily accessible it is to those who already have a Gmail account. Much like Docs or Calendar, all you need to do to set up a meeting is simply open Google Meet in your browser.
Nothing’s easier than starting a new Google Meet
While it doesn’t have the same breadth of functionality as Zoom, it’s super simple to use and syncs perfectly with Google Calendar.
Hybrid project management tools
When your team is spread out, keeping track of different projects can get messy pretty quickly – so, having the right project management tools for hybrid teams is a must.
They’ll enable you to keep everything organized and make sure everyone knows what needs to get done and by when, no matter where they’re working from.
Here are our favorites:
6. Notion
Notion is an all-in-one tool for project and knowledge management. It can act as a database, metrics tracker, calendar, and note-taking app, to name a few of its many capabilities.
Its flexibility and range of features means many small businesses can rely on it without using other tools, particularly in early stages. Users can collaborate on pages and have their own private home, which others in your business don’t have access to.
It’s no surprise that it’s one of the most popular tools for startups and hybrid businesses, particularly given its very competitive pricing.
Notion’s pricing is quite competitive, although costs do add up for larger businesses
7. Asana
Asana’s pièce de résistance is its simplicity. Rather than be a bit of everything, it is incredibly good at simply being a project management tool. That’s why it outperforms its competitors when it comes to user experience and process optimization – however,it works best in collaboration with other tools to carry out projects or create content on.
Its free plan offers lots of features, allowing businesses with any (or zero) budget to use it effectively, and it has multiple viewing options depending on how you best take in information. With tasks divided into sub-tasks, it’s easy to collaborate, manage projects, and hand over tasks upon completion – which are all ideal for hybrid workplaces.
8. ClickUp
One of the challenges of remote work is passing tasks over and providing enough context to your coworkers. Often, employees don’t want to bother each other with an instant message, but they also want to make sure information doesn’t get lost.
For communication around projects, ClickUp has it all. Emails, editing documents, hand overs, it’s a tool built for streamlining the collaboration process. It even has an AI feature that enables you to quickly sort tasks and identify any roadblocks your team might be facing:
ClickUp’s AI helps you quickly see which tasks need your attention
ClickUp is particularly popular with agencies that need to send over information and projects to clients – and to their teams. Clients can join Clickup to collaborate on projects without using it in their own business, and updates are sent over via email when changes are made or tasks are signed off.
Visual collaboration tools
Visual collaboration tools make it easy for hybrid teams to brainstorm, design, and create together, even when people are working from different locations. Here are our favorites:
9. Miro
Anyone who’s been on an ideation video call is likely to be familiar with Miro. It’s best known as a virtual whiteboard, but its functionality extends into task management and real-time note taking.
Unlike many of the other tools in the list, it can’t be described as a competitive all-in-one. However, it is a go-to for those virtual brainstorming and ideation. If your workplace is already using tools such as Notion, Miro would be an excellent addition to improve collaboration.
10. LucidSpark
LucidSpark also uses a virtual whiteboard model. The goal is to visually capture your team’s thoughts and ideas with GIFs, sticky notes, emojis and shapes to make learning and creating more interesting.
Its breakout feature is modeled on Zoom’s feature of the same name, enabling teams to split off into smaller groups to discuss and share feedback before returning to the team board. It also offers a range of templates to get you started, if you need a little inspiration before jumping in.
Document sharing platforms
In a hybrid work environment, sharing documents needs to be easy, secure, and accessible from anywhere – and, clearly, endless email threads with attachments are not the best way to move forward.
Document sharing platforms make it easy for your team to collaborate in real time and ensure everyone is working on the latest version of each document.
11. Google Docs (and Google Drive)
Google Drive and Google Docs are staples in many hybrid and remote workplaces, and for good reason. They allow for real-time collaboration, where a few people can edit the same document at the same time, and each person sees what everyone else is doing.
You can leave comments and suggestions directly in each document and track changes automatically, which is key, if you need to revert to an earlier version or track the history of a document. Plus, you can also easily link documents, spreadsheets, and presentations together.
On the downside, copying and pasting files into Google Drive is not as intuitive as we feel it should be by now; you cannot simply select files and copy them in a different folder, as you can in a Windows or iOS environment.
12. Document360
Document360 is a comprehensive knowledge management platform that’s perfect for creating and sharing internal documents, FAQs, and manuals, making it easier for everyone to access critical information, no matter where they are – which is pretty fundamental for hybrid teams.
It’s particularly useful for creating a central repository of knowledge that can be updated and accessed from anywhere.
13. Dropbox Paper
Dropbox Paper, Dropbox’s document editor, is a collaborative workspace where your team can brainstorm, share ideas, and draft content together in real time, similarly to Google Docs. The interface is very simple and free of distractions, and you can embed media, assign tasks, and even hold discussions within each document.
Time and productivity tracking
Time tracking tools help you monitor progress, manage workloads, and ensure everyone stays on track, regardless of their location.
14. Toggl Track
Toggl is a super handy, super simple time-tracking tool that won’t clutter your employees workspaces. Your team can use it to:
Track billable hours
Manage project timelines
Keep an eye on how they spend their workday and how long each task takes to complete
Whatever the specific use case(s) of your team, you can use Toggl’s detailed reports and insights to optimize your workflows and make sure everyone’s intentional about their time. It also integrates with other popular project management tools like Asana and Trello, making it easy to add to your existing processes.
15. Insightful
Insightful is a suite of productivity analytics tools for all the productivity geeks out there, offering time tracking and insights on whether the time spent on each task was used efficiently.
It offers activity monitoring, screenshots, and detailed reports to give managers a deep understanding of their team’s productivity patterns.
Keep in mind, however, that some team members might actively dislike the idea of activity monitoring, so if you implement a tool such as Insightful, make sure you respect their privacy and explain how it can be helpful to them (and not just to you), by helping them spot bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
Otherwise, it might look like you’re trying to police your team, which is not a good way to establish trust in a hybrid environment.
Meeting enhancement software
Meetings can be tricky when your team is spread across different locations, so you need to always make them remote-first to be inclusive.
Beyond that, meeting enhancement tools help you make the most of your meeting time, be it with follow-ups, note taking, or scheduling software.
16. Doodle
Doodle helps your team find the best meeting time that works for everyone. Instead of endless back-and-forth emails trying to coordinate schedules, you can use this tool to propose multiple time slots and let participants vote on what works best for them.
Creating a Doodle is super easy
Once everyone agrees on a given time, Doodle can automatically schedule the meeting, ensuring that everyone gets the meeting details.
17. Fireflies.ai
Fireflies.ai automates the process of recording, transcribing, and organizing meeting notes. And turning teams’ conversations into searchable, shareable notes that everyone can refer back to is pretty handy, especially if not everyone can join a meeting.
It integrates with popular platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, making it easy to add to your team’s workflows, and helps everyone get more out of each meeting.
18. Fathom
Fathom is another tool that automatically records and transcribes your team’s Zoom, MS Teams, or Google Meet calls, so that everyone can focus on the conversation instead of trying to note everything.
It even marks key moments, like action items or important decisions, so everyone can review them later.
How do you introduce new tools to your team?
It’s impossible to know how a new tool will best serve a business or department until it’s been rolled out, so it’s important to let everyone try it out before you make any radical changes.
Unless the tool is a solution to a widespread issue, your team will likely want to know why they’re being asked to do things differently now. Make these conversations easier by having a decisive answer to ‘Why do we need this?’
Maybe it’s an improvement on a tool they already use, or maybe you’re looking to optimize a process that hasn’t been working. Whatever the reason, making it clear will minimize pushback and help get everyone on board.
2. Give your team room to learn
Even the most intuitive hybrid work tool can take time to get the hang of, so you need to give your team room to experiment with it.
Sometimes, it may be worthwhile to put a couple of options on the table and ask your team which one they prefer. Whether you do this or have chosen a tool, make sure you have a realistic timeline for people to get to grips with it.
3. Set your expectations
What do you expect to see and hear when it comes to this tool? Do you want stronger collaboration? Do you want more active communication? Do you want better project management?
Setting clear expectations will help both you and your team to understand if the new tool is working – and what to change if it isn’t.
4. Ask for feedback
Give your team time to experiment and then ask them for feedback. It could be a week or two, or a little longer for more complex software.
The main thing is that your team has had a chance to actively use the tool in their day-to-day work life. Only then will you know whether it’s worth investing in it over the long term.
Make hybrid and remote work with the right tools
We’ve covered a lot in this article, from scheduling tools that keep your office running smoothly to communication platforms that make sure everyone’s in the loop, no matter where they’re working.
But before teams can exchange documents, take meeting notes, and track the time they spend working on specific tasks, you need to make sure they have the right conditions to work – and for this, a desk booking app like Officely is key.
Officely makes managing a hybrid office simple by letting your team easily book desks, see who’s in the office, and find out if there are any social activities planned for that day – and, most importantly, it lives where your team members are, i.e. in their communication app, be it Slack or MS Teams.
Want to learn more about the future of hybrid work? Check out our eBook, “Our Flexible Future” and start building a hybrid work environment that works for everyone.
Try Officely Today
See who's in the office, organize socials and events, and increase your office attendance all within Slack.
Max is one of the cofounders and CEO of Officely, a flexible work enablement platform. He has helped thousands of businesses not only transition to flexible work but instil it at the core of their culture and brand.
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