What’s the true meaning of a hybrid workplace?

Written by Dr. Darja Smite
Researcher of distributed working, Blekinge Institute of Technology

If there is one message I want you to take away, it’s that there isn’t one definition of "hybrid work." Originally it was meant to describe a blend of remote work and in-office work, but its meaning has expanded, and nowadays this oversimplification only leads to confusion.  

A meaningful hybrid policy has at least two dimensions 

Companies that say they work hybrid can mean anything between “we’re in the office, nine-to-five” to “we work anywhere, around the world, at any time.” So, if you want to design a meaningful work policy, a random mix of working from home and the office is not a helpful tool. After studying remote work for two decades, it’s clear to me that we need supporting terms to describe the corporate strategic choice of hybrid work in a more nuanced way.   

There are many policies that regulate the way employees split their work time between the office and remote locations. To simplify the wide range of policies, I typically talk about dimensions, and companies have to decide where they lie on each. Two important dimensions are the primary location of work, and the degree of schedule flexibility.  

Where is your primary location of work? 

Some workplaces describe themselves as hybrid, yet the majority of their time is still spent at the office. This is known as an “office-first” workplace. It can involve a day or two of work from home. On the other end of the spectrum, we have “remote-first” workplaces. This could be a workplace where the entire team only meets once a quarter because they are working from anywhere. Of course, a mix of the two is possible, where you try to balance time as much as possible between remote work and in-office work.  

Research insights: Being office-first does not necessarily mean that the company offers no flexibility for their employees. Consider, for example, Storebrand, which is a Norwegian financial services company. While Storebrand’s management believes in the importance of office-based working and invests in making their office an attractive place to work, they are equally committed to having a corporate work policy that explicitly permits flexible working. Despite this high degree of flexibility, their approach attracts around 44% of their employees to work predominantly onsite (4-5 days per week in the office). 

Similarly, having a remote-first policy does not mean that a company has no offices or does not care about in-person collaboration. Consider, for example, Spotify, a leading global audio streaming service. Despite their Work-From-Anywhere policy, the company still maintains very attractive offices in central locations. The company learned that opportunities to connect are essential for achieving a sense of belonging, and a sense of purpose and impact.  

How flexible are your schedules? 

Some workplaces have a fully "fixed” hybrid schedule. At these companies, management might set specific office days and home days. A semi-fixed approach could have management set boundaries on how many remote and office days are permitted or required within a week or a month. I call this “restricted” hybrid.  

The other end of the spectrum are “flexible” hybrid schedules. In these workplaces, employees decide completely when to work where. Then there are semi-flexible workplaces, where employees align their office days based on an agreement within a work group. This is what I like to call a “synchronized” hybrid approach.  

Research insights: In our research study of 27 corporate work policies from companies like Storebrand, Telenor, Tietoevry, and Knowit, we found that roughly half of the companies leaned towards “fixed” hybrid, and the other half towards “flexible.”  

At “fixed” hybrid workplaces, they either implemented fully “fixed” or “restricted” hybrid policies, such as permitting 1-2 remote days per week or requesting 1-3 office days per week, specifying the weekdays for office work, or offering a voluntary choice between two types of contracts: fully remote and fully office-based.  

At “flexible” hybrid workplaces, they often implemented the flexible model on a corporate level, but in many cases, they had more nuanced work setups on the departmental level or within work groups. For example, Storebrand employs flexible hybrid but encourages teams to discuss their internal hybrid rules so that they build lasting habits through reason and cooperation rather than strict policies. Spotify’s remote-first policy has been also recently supplemented by a new practice to make sure that the Spotify corporate culture does not become diluted: the company’s management launched a Core Week. This one work week per year requires teams to go to their most convenient office location and discuss strategy and build community. 

Choosing the right approach for your workplace