So, you've embraced hybrid work. That's the easy part. The real challenge is creating a hybrid schedule that actually works—one that makes office time intentional and remote time productive. Without a clear plan for your hybrid office scheduling, you risk confusion and disconnection. This guide is your playbook. We're covering the essential hybrid work schedule best practices so you can build a plan that serves your business and your people, creating a seamless hybrid remote work schedule for everyone.
There are different types of hybrid and remote schedules you can use for your team. But if you look closely, there are only two approaches to setting up your hybrid work schedule: employee-led or manager-led.
The former enables employees to pick their work hours and work-from-home days, while the latter method implies managers mandate specific days.
In this article, we’ll look at both and see why employee-led hybrid work schedules might be a better fit for most employers out there – and also how to set yours up. The good news is, you don’t have to invent the wheel; there are several best practices you can implement today, which we’ll explain here.
What Is a Hybrid Work Schedule?
A hybrid work schedule is a work arrangement that combines working from the office and working remotely, usually from home. Instead of coming to the office 100% of the time or being fully remote, employees split their time between the two.
In a hybrid environment, employees usually come into the office a few days a week and work from home on the other days. And, while some companies offer fixed, manager-led schedules, others let their people choose when they want to be in the office:
Manager-led hybrid schedules are usually one-size-fits-all (for example ‘everyone needs to be in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday’). This doesn’t necessarily work, though, because employee needs and productivity peaks might vary widely. For employees to enjoy the perks of a hybrid work model, they also need the autonomy to set their own work schedule.
Employee-led hybrid work schedules enable your team members to take advantage of the two main benefits of hybrid work, greater productivity and increased work-life balance, by giving them the autonomy to decide what’s best for them.
The idea behind hybrid work is to have the best of both worlds: easy face-to-face collaboration and the creativity that comes with having spontaneous conversations in the office, and the flexibility and work-life balance that remote work offers. And, when you let your employees set the tone (and their schedules), you establish an environment of trust and responsibility.
Whichever model you choose, you’ll need the right tech to make it possible: video conferencing tools like Google Meet or Zoom, communication platforms like MS Teams or Slack, project management software like ClickUp or Asana, and a desk booking app like Officely.
6 Common Hybrid Work Schedule Models
There are various formats you could use when building your office’s hybrid work schedule, depending on the balance you’d like to strike between:
- Remote and in-office work
- Employee autonomy and fixed schedules
- The needs of your business and the needs of your people
Each type we’ll look at below offers different levels of flexibility and control.
The Team-First Approach to Scheduling
With this approach, you give teams the autonomy to decide when they want to come into the office. Instead of leaving the decision up to each employee, you let teams decide what makes the most sense for them.
For example, if a team knows that face-to-face brainstorming sessions are usually very productive, but they don’t need more than one or two of those each week, they could decide that they’ll come to the office on Wednesdays and arrange the rest of the team’s schedule around that.
This usually works well for teams that are self-managing, flat in structure, and able to set clear goals.
The Employee-Choice Model
This is another variation of the approach above, but with a stronger focus on individual needs. Here, you’re essentially letting each person decide for themselves what makes most sense to them.
It works best for companies where each employee can work independently most of the time and where individual creativity and freedom are priorities. It might also be a good idea for complex cross-functional teams where it’s impossible to define a team-wide or company-wide approach that would work best for everyone.
Effective communication is a must, as are the tools that enable it, such as communication platforms and hot-desking software.
The Manager-Led Hybrid Schedule
Here, managers set the office schedule and have the final say on the days when everyone needs to be in the office, either on a team-by-team basis or as a blanket hybrid policy. For example:
- Monday and Tuesday might be office days for everyone, with the option for remote work on other days of the week
- Different teams might alternate between office and remote work according to a pre-set schedule
This is obviously a less flexible approach but it could be beneficial for teams that need more structure or for client-facing roles.
Fixed In-Office Days: A Structured Approach
With this approach, your people would need to be in the office for certain hours or days, but the rest of the time they can work remotely.
For example, everyone might have to come in from 10 AM to 2 PM or be in the office on Wednesdays. If your team regularly meets with clients or partners in the office, fixed office hours might be necessary.
Staggered Hours: Avoiding the Office Rush
In this type of hybrid schedule, managers define the required office hours and employees come in at different times to make sure there’s always someone in the office.
This is common for industries like healthcare, hospitality, or retail, where someone needs to be on site at all times, but not necessarily everyone at once. Remote work is typically reserved for tasks that can be done remotely and might not be possible for all roles.
Typically, this approach requires a lot of structure and is usually led by managers, rather than by employees.
Role-Based: Aligning Work with Location
In this setup, coming into the office depends on the work you do. Some roles or tasks need to be done in person (like handling equipment), while others (like design or coding) can be done remotely most of the time.
This approach could be particularly useful for you if most roles allow for remote work at least a part of the time; otherwise, you risk creating tension between those who can work remotely and those who cannot.
The Cohort Schedule
In a cohort schedule, you group employees into teams or "cohorts" that follow a set schedule for their in-office and remote days. For example, Group A might come in on Mondays and Tuesdays, while Group B is in the office on Thursdays and Fridays, leaving Wednesday as a flexible or deep-work day for everyone. This model is incredibly practical for managing office density, especially if you've downsized your space or want to ensure there's always a comfortable amount of room for everyone. It also helps teams who collaborate closely to guarantee they have that valuable face-to-face time together, making it easier to plan projects and maintain team cohesion without overcrowding the office.
The Remote-First Model
A remote-first model flips the traditional office concept on its head. Here, remote work is the default for everyone, and the office serves as a collaboration hub or a resource for those who need it. Employees have the freedom to work from anywhere but can book a desk or meeting room when they need to collaborate on a project, meet with clients, or simply want a change of scenery. This approach offers maximum flexibility and can help you attract talent from a wider geographic area. To make it work, you need a seamless way for people to reserve space, which is where flex office software becomes essential for managing on-demand office use without the administrative headache.
The Cyclical Hybrid Schedule
The cyclical hybrid schedule is designed for deep focus and intense collaboration, just not at the same time. With this model, teams work remotely for an extended period—say, for six weeks—and then come together in the office for a concentrated week of workshops, planning sessions, and team-building activities. This rhythm is perfect for globally distributed teams or those whose work involves long stretches of independent tasks punctuated by critical group milestones. It allows employees to enjoy the uninterrupted focus of remote work while ensuring they get the high-value, in-person connection needed to build strong relationships and tackle big-picture challenges together.
The Compressed Work Week
While not strictly a hybrid model, the compressed work week is a popular flexibility option that pairs well with one. In this arrangement, employees work their full-time hours over fewer days—the most common example being four 10-hour days, resulting in a three-day weekend every week. This schedule gives your team more personal time, which can significantly improve work-life balance and reduce burnout. You can easily combine this with a hybrid plan; for instance, employees might work their four compressed days from home or come into the office for two of them. It’s a powerful way to show you trust your team to manage their time effectively while still meeting business goals.
Why a Hybrid Schedule Is a Win-Win
If a hybrid setup is not beneficial for both sides, it instantly loses some of its appeal. So, let’s look into the advantages of hybrid work, for you and for your people.
Achieve a Healthier Work-Life Blend
By allowing employees to work remotely, you’re giving them the freedom to create a workspace that suits their needs and personal commitments. According to Gallup, 76% of employees see this as a key benefit for hybrid work, ahead of all the other advantages of this model.
For example, if an employee needs to go to a doctor’s appointment at 10am, they no longer have to take half a day off; instead, they could simply start their work day later and finish later.
Or, if someone is going to art classes every Wednesday at 4:30 pm, they could simply start work earlier or work until later another day.
Or, if employees need to drop off and pick up their children from school, they could arrange their work schedules around this, and still show up to do their best work.
Trusting your employees with their schedules shows them you trust them to do their work without micromanaging their to-do lists or the time they spend in the office.
Employee-led hybrid work schedules allow employees to choose their work-from-home days, and most employees crave such control over their schedules.
As one hybrid-working study of over 5,000 knowledge workers found, at least 73% of employees preferred to work for a company that offered the flexibility to work from anywhere rather than the office. More importantly, 61% of employees said they preferred if management allowed team members to come into the office only when needed.
Higher Productivity, Wherever You Are
Actually, the jury’s still out on this one. According to studies by Stanford and the University of Chicago, productivity might actually suffer when working remotely, despite employees’ general sentiment that they’re more productive at home.
However, a hybrid work schedule where your people decide where to work from based on their tasks and needs enables them to reduce distractions when needed and come into the office for brainstorming and creative work when they could use their coworkers’ help and input.
Less Commuting, More Living
Commuting to work can be a major stress factor that contributes to burnout, especially when you factor in rush-hour traffic.
Hybrid schedules and flextime policies can enable your employees to avoid commute-related stress altogether. By simply coming to the office earlier or later, they can already avoid most traffic jams; add to this the option to work from home, and you have a winning combination.
A Happier Team That Stays Longer
If you consider the fact that 83% of workers around the world prefer hybrid models to on-site work, it’s easy to see why companies that offer flexible work arrangements are more likely to attract and retain top talent.
If you give your employees the opportunity to build a healthy work-life balance (that they’re in charge of!) and work in an environment that suits their preferences, you’ll have a happier and more committed workforce.
Plus, if you eliminate rigid schedules and mandated office presence, you’ll also be able to tap into a more diverse talent pool (and the invaluable perspectives) of caretakers, people with health issues, or those who simply live further away.
Common Challenges of a Hybrid Schedule (And How to Solve Them)
Shifting to a hybrid model isn’t as simple as just telling everyone they can work from home a few days a week. It comes with a unique set of challenges that require thoughtful solutions. From ensuring fairness to managing office space effectively, anticipating these hurdles is the first step to overcoming them. The key is to be proactive, creating systems and using tools that support your team, no matter where they’re working from. Let’s look at some of the most common issues that pop up in a hybrid environment and, more importantly, how you can get ahead of them.
Proximity Bias
It’s natural for managers to build stronger relationships with the people they see every day. This can lead to proximity bias, where in-office employees are unintentionally favored over their remote colleagues for promotions, interesting projects, or even simple recognition. This can create a two-tiered system that sidelines remote workers and damages morale. To counter this, train your managers to lead hybrid teams effectively. Focus performance reviews on results and output, not on physical presence. Ensure all team members, remote or in-office, have equal opportunities to contribute and be heard in meetings.
Communication Gaps
When your team is split between the office and home, communication can easily become fragmented. Important decisions might be made during an impromptu chat in the hallway, leaving remote employees out of the loop. To prevent this, you need to be intentional about communication. Establish clear channels for different types of conversations and document everything. Using integrated communication platforms is a must. Tools that integrate with the apps your team already uses, like Slack or Microsoft Teams, ensure that important updates and scheduling information are accessible to everyone, creating a single source of truth for the whole team.
Uneven Office Use
One of the biggest logistical headaches of a hybrid model is the "feast or famine" office. Without any coordination, you’ll likely find the office is a ghost town on Mondays and Fridays but completely packed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. This makes it hard to manage resources, creates frustration for employees trying to find a desk, and means you’re paying for underutilized space. A successful hybrid setup has to be beneficial for both the company and its employees, and that means making office attendance predictable and efficient.
Managing Popular In-Office Days
Instead of enforcing a strict, mandated schedule, you can use technology to manage the flow of people. A desk booking system gives you visibility into who plans to be in the office and when. This allows you to set capacity limits for popular days, preventing overcrowding and ensuring everyone who comes in has a guaranteed workspace. It also helps employees coordinate their office days with their teammates, making their commute more purposeful and collaborative. This way, you can manage office usage without taking away the flexibility your team values.
How to Implement a Hybrid Work Schedule
Rolling out a hybrid work schedule isn’t something you can do overnight. It requires careful planning, clear communication, and a willingness to adapt. A successful transition involves more than just creating a policy; it’s about building a new way of working that is fair, productive, and sustainable for the long term. By taking a structured, step-by-step approach, you can create a hybrid model that truly works for your organization and your people. Here’s a practical roadmap to guide you through the process.
Get Employee Input First
Before you write a single line of your new policy, talk to your team. Send out surveys, hold focus groups, and have one-on-one conversations to understand their needs, preferences, and concerns. Ask them what an ideal work week looks like and what support they would need to succeed in a hybrid model. Using their suggestions to shape your plan will not only lead to a better policy but also build trust and buy-in from the very beginning. People are more likely to embrace a change they helped create.
Test Your Schedule with a Pilot Program
Instead of launching your new hybrid schedule company-wide all at once, start with a small trial run. Select a few diverse teams to participate in a pilot program for a set period, like a month or a quarter. This allows you to test your processes, technology, and policies on a smaller scale. You can identify what works and what doesn’t, gather real-world feedback, and make necessary adjustments before the full rollout. A pilot program is a low-risk way to work out the kinks and build confidence in your new model.
Train Your Managers for Hybrid Leadership
Managing a hybrid team requires a different skill set than managing a fully in-office one. It’s crucial to provide your managers with training on how to lead effectively in this new environment. Teach them how to manage by results rather than presence, how to conduct inclusive meetings that engage both in-person and remote participants, and how to provide fair and consistent feedback to everyone on their team. Well-equipped managers are the key to making a hybrid model succeed.
Create a Formal Hybrid Work Policy
Once you’ve gathered input and run a pilot, it’s time to formalize your approach. Create a clear, comprehensive hybrid work policy that outlines the rules of the road. This document should explain expectations for availability, communication protocols, scheduling procedures, and performance measurement. Having everything written down ensures consistency and transparency, so everyone understands how the hybrid model works and what is expected of them. This policy should be a living document that you can update as your company evolves.
Gather Feedback and Adapt
Your first version of the hybrid schedule won’t be your last. The world of work is constantly changing, and your hybrid model should be able to change with it. Establish regular feedback channels, such as pulse surveys and team check-ins, to monitor how well the schedule is working. Use this feedback, along with performance data, to make informed decisions and continuously refine your approach. A willingness to listen and adapt is what will make your hybrid model successful in the long run.
Best Practices for a Successful Hybrid Schedule
Simply having a hybrid schedule isn't enough; you need to make it work effectively. The most successful hybrid models are built on a foundation of intention, flexibility, and trust. It’s about more than just splitting time between home and the office—it’s about redesigning the way we work to get the best of both worlds. By adopting a few key principles, you can create a hybrid environment where your team is engaged, collaborative, and productive, no matter where they are. Here are some best practices to help you build a thriving hybrid workplace.
Define the Purpose of In-Office vs. Remote Work
Be intentional about why you want people in the office. The office should be a destination for specific activities, not just a place to sit and answer emails. Establish clear guidelines for what kind of work is best suited for each location. This helps employees plan their weeks more effectively and ensures that their commute is always worthwhile. When people know *why* they are coming into the office, their time there becomes more focused and valuable.
Office Days for Collaboration: Anchor Days
Designate specific "anchor days" when teams are encouraged to come into the office together. These days should be reserved for collaborative activities like brainstorming sessions, project kick-offs, team-building events, and important meetings. The goal is to maximize face-to-face interaction and creative energy. By ensuring people are in the office at the same time for these key moments, you can foster a strong sense of connection and teamwork that can be challenging to replicate remotely.
Home Days for Deep Work
In contrast, remote workdays are often better for deep, focused individual work. Tasks that require concentration and fewer interruptions—like writing, coding, or data analysis—are perfectly suited for the quiet environment of a home office. Encourage your team to block off time for this kind of focused work on their remote days. This approach allows employees to align their tasks with their environment, leading to higher quality work and increased productivity.
Rethink Your Office Space for Flexibility
In a hybrid world, the office is no longer just a collection of desks. It needs to evolve into a dynamic hub for collaboration, creativity, and connection. Think about redesigning your space to support the activities that happen there. This might mean reducing the number of assigned desks and increasing the number of meeting rooms, collaborative lounges, and private spaces for calls. The goal is to create a flexible environment that can adapt to the changing needs of your team on any given day.
Creating Collaboration Hubs and Quiet Zones
To support a variety of work styles, design your office with different zones. Create vibrant collaboration hubs with whiteboards and comfortable seating for group work. At the same time, provide quiet zones or phone booths where individuals can take calls or focus without distractions. Offering a mix of spaces ensures that employees can find an environment that suits their task, whether they need to brainstorm with a team or have a confidential conversation.
Implementing Hot Desking
With fewer people in the office every day, assigned seating no longer makes sense. Implementing a hot desking system, where employees book a desk when they need one, is a much more efficient use of space. Desk booking tools can make this process seamless and organized, allowing employees to see who else is in the office and book a desk near their teammates. This approach not only saves on real estate costs but also encourages cross-team interaction and a more dynamic office environment.
Focus on Results, Not Hours
Trust is the currency of a successful hybrid model. Shift your management focus from tracking hours worked to measuring outcomes and results. When you focus on what employees achieve, not just how or when they do it, you empower them to work in a way that is most productive for them. This approach fosters a culture of autonomy and accountability, where employees are trusted to manage their own time and deliver high-quality work, regardless of their location.
Understand Key Hybrid Work Principles
Building a successful hybrid model goes beyond logistics; it requires a shift in mindset. Thoughtful planning, clear communication, and the right technology are the pillars of a sustainable hybrid workplace. By embracing a few core principles, you can create a framework that supports your team and drives your business forward. These guiding ideas will help you make consistent decisions as you navigate the complexities of hybrid work.
The 5 C's of Hybrid Work
A helpful way to think about the essentials of hybrid work is through the 5 C's: Communication, Collaboration, Culture, Connectivity, and Continuity. You need clear communication channels, intentional collaboration strategies, a strong and inclusive culture, reliable technology for connectivity, and business continuity plans that work for a distributed team. Keeping these five elements in balance will help you create a holistic and effective hybrid experience for everyone.
Employee Preference vs. Mandates
Ultimately, the most successful hybrid models are built on flexibility and choice. While some structure is necessary, rigid, top-down mandates often backfire, leading to resentment and disengagement. Companies that give employees a say in their schedules tend to have happier, more motivated teams. Trusting your employees to choose the work arrangement that best suits their role and their life is a powerful way to show that you value them as individuals, which is a cornerstone of a positive company culture.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do we choose the right hybrid schedule for our company? There isn't a single "best" model, so the right choice depends entirely on your team's needs and your business goals. Start by talking to your employees to understand what they need to be productive and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Consider the nature of your work—do teams need to collaborate in person frequently, or is most work done independently? A pilot program with a few different teams can be a great way to test what works before committing to a company-wide policy.
Our office gets packed mid-week but is empty on Mondays and Fridays. How can we manage this without forcing a strict schedule? This is a classic hybrid work challenge. Instead of mandating attendance on less popular days, which can hurt morale, focus on making office use more visible and organized. Using a desk booking system allows everyone to see who is planning to be in the office and when. This helps teams coordinate their in-person days and ensures they have a guaranteed space when they arrive, which prevents the frustration of a crowded office and makes the commute feel worthwhile.
What's the best way to ensure remote employees have the same opportunities as those in the office? To prevent proximity bias, you have to be intentional. Train your managers to focus on results and output, not on who they see in the hallway. Standardize your communication practices so that important decisions and conversations are documented and shared on platforms everyone can access, like Slack or Teams. When you run meetings, make sure remote attendees have an equal opportunity to contribute, not just observe.
Should we let employees choose their own schedule or have managers set it? Giving employees autonomy over their schedules builds a culture of trust and accountability, which often leads to higher engagement. An employee-led approach allows people to align their work location with their tasks—coming to the office for collaboration and staying home for deep focus. While some roles might require a more structured, manager-led schedule, trusting your team to make smart choices is usually the more effective path.
What's the most important thing to remember when creating our hybrid work policy? Your policy should be a clear and flexible framework, not a rigid set of rules. The most critical element is defining the purpose of the office. When people understand that the office is for specific, collaborative activities and that remote days are for focused work, they can plan their time more intentionally. Be sure to build in a process for gathering regular feedback so you can adapt the policy as your team's needs change over time.
Key Takeaways
- Define the Purpose of Each Work Location: Make the office a destination for collaboration, team-building, and specific projects. Reserve remote work for focused, individual tasks to ensure employees get the most value out of both environments.
- Embrace Flexibility Over Rigid Mandates: Give your teams the autonomy to create schedules that fit their workflow. This builds trust and engagement, and you can still provide structure through models like cohort schedules or team-decided anchor days.
- Support Your Schedule with the Right Systems: A successful hybrid model relies on more than just a policy. Invest in manager training for hybrid leadership and use tools like desk booking software to manage office flow, prevent overcrowding, and make in-office days seamless.
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