What’s hybrid work? Plus, 4 sorts of hybrid work to implement [+ examples]

On Mondays and Thursdays, I’m going into the workplace.

Not as a result of my workforce expects me to. However as a result of I usually discover it’s good for my psychological well being to get out of the home two days per week and work from a brand new location. (You realize — that historical phenomena of in-person interplay, and all that.) 

I’ve colleagues who’re in-office Monday via Friday religiously. 

After which I’ve different coworkers — some who reside a mere 20-minutes from the workplace — who haven’t stepped foot within the workplace in years.  

That, my mates, is the great thing about hybrid work.

What’s hybrid work? 

Let’s begin with a definition of hybrid work. 

Hybrid work is the pliability an organization offers its staff to decide on whether or not they’d prefer to be in-office, distant, or a mixture of each.

At Owl Labs, we’re so keen about hybrid work that we created an annual report about it. 

A couple of fast information: Since 2020, hybrid work has steadily turn out to be the brand new norm. In truth, whereas in-office employees nonetheless make up the vast majority of the workforce (63%) as of 2025, our analysis reveals 28% of employees at the moment are hybrid — in comparison with simply 9% of employees who’re absolutely distant. 

Plus, 73% of employees reported their firms haven’t modified their distant or hybrid insurance policies since 2024. 

In different phrases: Hybrid isn’t going anyplace. 

Curiously, the vast majority of hybrid staff go into the workplace 3 days (39%) or 4 days (34%) every week, up from 2024 — suggesting that some staff now present a choice to in-person experiences over absolutely distant. 

Hybrid staff are largely keen to maintain their versatile set-ups, although. If versatile work have been taken away from them, roughly half (40%) of employees would begin job searching, 22% would anticipate a elevate, and 5% would merely give up. 

Is hybrid work simply an excuse to work much less?

As a hybrid employee myself, let me anecdotally clarify a couple of advantages. On Tuesday nights, I do trivia with mates, which suggests I gained’t have time for an after-work exercise. So I keep dwelling on Tuesdays so I can head to the gymnasium on my lunch break. 

(Sure, I’m conscious I might work out earlier than 9 a.m., however… no.) 

On Fridays, I keep dwelling to make amends for some errands in between work duties. I do my laundry, meal prep, and end up work duties for the week. 

If managers are involved that this implies their hybrid employees are slacking off throughout work hours, they will relaxation straightforward. Shockingly, in-office employees are literally way more prone to interact in quiet quitting (67%), in comparison with hybrid employees (28%). 

Hybrid employees are nonetheless anticipated to fulfill job expectations and are held to the identical requirements as in-office staff. Most of us wouldn’t head to Dealer Joe’s if we had a time-sensitive challenge that wanted ending, or if a gathering was scheduled throughout that point. 

At its core, hybrid work is about trusting your staff to behave like accountable adults who get to resolve for themselves the place and the way they work finest. Typically which may imply visiting the workplace, and different occasions, they’d choose to hunker down at their desks at dwelling. 

How does a hybrid setup work? 

There’s no single “proper” approach to do hybrid work. Firms implement hybrid work in numerous methods relying on their tradition, targets, and workforce wants.

Let’s break down a couple of widespread hybrid work fashions. 

1. Mounted Hybrid (Firm-Set Schedule)

That is the place staff are required to be in-office on particular days. For example, perhaps you require staff to be in-office each Tuesday. Alternatively, this mannequin may seem like an organization that calls for a sure variety of days (i.e. three days per week), however there’s flexibility on which days an worker chooses.

There are some main collaboration advantages to this. For example, if a workforce is on the lookout for a time to fulfill about an vital challenge, they could schedule that assembly for Tuesday so everyone seems to be in-person.

It fosters extra informal collaboration, too. In case your whole advertising workforce is in-office on the similar time, it promotes extra spontaneous cross-functional work as individuals catch up and listen to about varied work initiatives. 

That is additionally the best mannequin to maintain an workplace tradition alive and properly. In any other case, you danger individuals coming into the workplace randomly and typically discovering the workplace, properly… empty. 

However there’s an enormous trade-off with this method. This mannequin is much much less versatile for workers who need to select in the event that they go to the workplace in any respect, and it additionally might restrict your hiring scope to a particular geographic area. “Pressured togetherness” may also create resentment with staff who really feel they need to get to decide on once they go to the workplace. 

2. Versatile Hybrid (Worker-Selection)

That is the place staff select once they are available — or if they arrive in in any respect. Primarily, the motto for this method is “work wherever you’re employed finest”. 

With this methodology, workforce managers may also resolve their very own norms. Your gross sales director may request that her workforce be within the workplace each Monday via Wednesday for in-person collaboration, whereas the finance workforce may usually choose distant work totally. 

Usually, this mannequin leads to increased worker satisfaction, and it suggests a tradition primarily based on belief. Plus, it’s among the best fashions for workers’ work-life stability. If an worker lives an hour from the workplace, they won’t need to spend 2+ hours every week commuting.

The trade-off right here is easy. If staff are by no means required to be in-office on the similar time, a number of implicit alerts must turn out to be specific. In different phrases: Versatile-hybrid staff is likely to be not sure about once they must be on-line, whether or not a subject is better-discussed async or in a gathering, and if in-person staff are making choices with out them current. 

To handle this, all expectations must be clearly communicated and documented. 

3. Distant-First Hybrid

This one is much less widespread, largely as a result of it’s usually costly to function an workplace you not often use. 

This mannequin signifies that most of your staff work totally distant. The workplace is non-compulsory, and is basically used for workforce offsites, management conferences, or collaboration days.

So why would you select this selection? It would imply you possibly can put money into a smaller workplace house (cough, cough, cheaper actual property). It additionally offers you entry to world expertise — if most individuals are distant you possibly can rent wherever you need. 

Whereas the trade-off may very well be your organization tradition, it doesn’t should be. This mannequin simply requires a bit extra intentional culture-building, resembling quarterly or annual offsites, or extra digital skilled improvement alternatives. 

4. Position-Based mostly Hybrid

This mannequin means in-office expectations range by position. 

Possibly you resolve your gross sales workforce must be largely in-person. Your advertising org? They will do business from home. 

This mannequin is sensible in principle as a result of it matches the working type to the job wants. A customer-facing position most likely ought to be in-person, particularly if clients go to your workspace. Equally, some gross sales leaders will say studying on the gross sales flooring by listening to different gross sales calls is crucial, particularly for newer gross sales reps. 

However the trade-off is that some staff may really feel that is unfair, notably if they like to work remotely and are required to be in-office nearly every day. It additionally limits your hiring scope for these explicit roles — like sales-based roles — to a particular geographic area. 

Dos and don’ts when making a hybrid tradition

When you choose the mannequin that most accurately fits your organization’s wants, there are nonetheless some normal dos and don’ts you’ll need to abide by. 

Dos:

• Set clear guardrails, resembling in-office expectations, availability norms, core collaboration hours, and so on. However don’t begin micro-managing hours labored. Readability is all the time higher than management.
• Redesign your conferences to be hybrid-appropriate.
• Prepare managers in a different way. Educate them to measure outcomes, not presence; the way to spot burnout with out bodily cues; and the way to construct belief throughout places.
• Doc all the pieces. Hybrid firms want to take care of inner wikis and default to transparency so your distant and in-office staff have entry to the identical data. 

Don’ts: 

• Promote or give particular remedy to in-office people in comparison with distant. When you’re going to lean right into a hybrid tradition, you possibly can’t secretly present choice to in-office staff.
• Create office-first conferences with distant individuals feeling like second-class residents. You’ll need to create the precise assembly tradition so distant individuals really feel simply as concerned. 

Examples of profitable firms that implement hybrid work

1. Microsoft

Microsoft makes use of a fastened hybrid mannequin by which they anticipate staff to be in-office three days every week. 

As Microsoft’s Govt Vice President, Chief Folks Officer Amy Coleman, places it, “Our objective… is to supply extra readability and consistency in how we come collectively, whereas sustaining the pliability we all know you worth. We would like you to proceed to form your schedule in ways in which work finest for you, making in-person time intentional and impactful.”

Relying in your workplace tradition and wishes, this may very well be a powerful method—notably if these in-office days are designed round collaboration, connection, and decision-making that profit from being face-to-face.

This mannequin encourages in-person dialogue three days per week, whereas nonetheless permitting staff to decide on which days work finest for them, reinforcing autonomy alongside construction.

2. Spotify

Spotify takes a broader “Work From Anyplace” philosophy inside its versatile hybrid construction, encouraging staff to decide on the surroundings the place they work finest — whether or not that’s at dwelling, a Spotify workplace, or one other location.

As they put it, “We nonetheless strongly consider that work is just not a spot you go; it’s one thing you do. We belief that when introduced with a selection of the place to work, Spotifiers perceive that there’s a duty to actively interact in being impactful… Subsequently, we don’t consider in mandating everybody again to an workplace. As an alternative, we proceed to embrace flexibility.”

Spotify has made it clear that hybrid work doesn’t imply each expertise is similar. The corporate emphasizes a “totally different however okay” method, acknowledging that working from dwelling and dealing from the workplace naturally result in totally different experiences. Some moments (like in-office listening lounges) are deliberately designed for onsite collaboration and culture-building, whereas others translate higher to digital codecs. 

Quite than forcing parity, Spotify focuses on being clear about what staff can anticipate in every setting and designs experiences accordingly.

3. Airbnb

Airbnb operates with a remote-first hybrid mannequin via its “Stay and Work Anyplace” coverage, which permits staff to reside and work from practically anyplace on the earth for as much as 90 days per 12 months, with no location-based wage changes.

As Airbnb’s “Stay and Work Anyplace” web page explains, “Our advantages… [prioritize] flexibility to fulfill particular person wants.” 

Workers obtain quarterly journey credit, an annual training stipend, and a quarterly Stay and Work Anyplace allowance. Advantages are designed to help each skilled progress and private success.

Whereas Airbnb provides non-compulsory in-person gatherings and team-building experiences, the corporate’s philosophy clearly facilities on work-life stability and empowering staff to design a piece life that matches them. Given Airbnb’s core enterprise of enabling short- and long-term stays anyplace, the method feels particularly aligned with its model and tradition.