Glossary · Hybrid work & policy

What is hybrid work?

Short answer

Hybrid work is a way of working in which employees split their time between the office and remote locations, usually home. Organizations use it to combine focused remote work with in-person collaboration, and workplace, HR and real estate teams plan desks, rooms and office days around the attendance pattern it creates.

Also called hybrid working, hybrid workplace, hybrid work meaning, hybrid job.

How it works

In a hybrid setup, people do some work from the office and some from elsewhere. Focused, individual tasks often happen at home, while meetings, collaboration, onboarding and social time happen in the office. The organization decides how much structure to add: some let people choose freely, others set office days for teams or for the whole company.

The attendance pattern that results is uneven. Attendance clusters on a few midweek days, and the office is quiet on Mondays and Fridays. That changes how space is planned: instead of one desk per person, many hybrid offices use shared, bookable desks and size the floor for the busiest day they choose to support.

Hybrid work only pays off when people who need each other are in on the same days. Without coordination, people commute to find their team at home, and the office becomes a place to take video calls. That is why hybrid organizations add shared schedules, team days and booking tools, and track attendance and occupancy to see whether the pattern works.

How to measure it

  1. Track attendance by team and weekday, not only total headcount in the building, so you can see whether teams actually overlap.
  2. Compare peak-day occupancy with average occupancy; the peak day sets how much space you need.
  3. Survey people on whether their office days are useful, and read the answers next to the attendance data.
  4. Review retention and engagement alongside space data: hybrid work is a people decision as well as a real estate one.

Examples

  • A product team works from home on Monday and Friday and meets in the office Tuesday to Thursday for planning, design reviews and lunch.
  • A professional services firm lets each team agree its own office days and publishes them, so clients and colleagues know when people are in.

Benchmarks

Common mistakes

  • Setting a day count without saying what office time is for, so people commute to sit on video calls.
  • Keeping one assigned desk per person when most desks sit empty on most days.
  • Judging hybrid work by badge swipes alone, which shows presence but not whether the right people met.

How Kadence helps

Kadence gives hybrid teams one place to plan office time. People set their work status, see which colleagues are going in, and book desks and rooms from the Kadence apps, Microsoft Teams or Slack. Team coordination features such as Team Kadence and smart suggestions help people come in on the same days, and Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy from check-in data.

Hybrid working coordination · Workplace analytics · Hybrid work strategy guide

Frequently asked questions

What does hybrid work mean?

Hybrid work means splitting the working week between the office and somewhere else, usually home. The exact split depends on the organization. Some let each person choose, some set office days for teams, and some require a fixed number of days. What they share is that the office is no longer the only place where work happens.

What is the difference between hybrid work and remote work?

Remote workers work away from the office all or almost all of the time. Hybrid workers spend part of the week in the office and part elsewhere. Hybrid work keeps the office as a place for collaboration and connection, so it needs coordination and booking that fully remote setups do not.

What is a hybrid workplace?

A hybrid workplace is an office designed for people who come in on some days and not others. It usually has fewer assigned desks, more bookable desks and meeting rooms, spaces for both collaboration and quiet work, and tools that show who is coming in so teams can plan their time together.

What are the benefits of hybrid work?

For employees, hybrid work reduces commuting and gives more control over when and where to do focused work. For employers, it widens the hiring pool, supports retention and can reduce the office space needed. The benefits depend on coordination: office days only add value when the right people are there together.

  • Hybrid work model The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first.
  • Hybrid work policy The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured.
  • Hybrid coordination The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive.
  • Remote work Work done away from the employer's office, usually from home, for all or almost all of the working week.
  • Return to office (RTO) An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days.
  • Flexible working Any arrangement that changes when, where or how much someone works, such as flextime, hybrid work or part-time hours.

Sources

  1. Who has access to hybrid work in Great Britain?, Office for National Statistics

Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed

Next step

See it on your own floors.

Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist.

Book a demoGet a quote