Hybrid work is at its highest adoption rate at 38% of the people Microsoft surveyed recently in their Work Trend Index Report. Furthermore, 53% of the people responded that they will consider adopting hybrid work within a year. Easier said than done! Building a quality hybrid work policy that is well communicated ensures better adoption and satisfaction by employees.
38% of hybrid employees say their biggest challenge with hybrid work is knowing when and why to come into the office. At the same time, only 28% of leaders have created a hybrid work policy or guidelines to define why and when to go to the office.
In this post, we will compile a hybrid work policy together based on our experience working with hundreds of companies.
Simply put, a hybrid work policy outlines where, how, and when employees should work in the office or remotely. On the surface, it sounds like a very straightforward and easy policy! When wfworke look deeper though, it becomes clear how sensitive this topic is today, after 2 years of working almost completely remote. Then the different teams each have different working requirements, preferences, and expectations about their schedules. It can get messy easily.
Your policy should outline your expectations and responsibilities for your hybrid workforce, and layout a set of guidelines for hybrid workplace operations. That includes any requirements, processes, and best practices for employees to follow to determine their work hybrid schedule inter-team and cross-team coordination.
The process of building the policy should be inclusive, collaborative, and designed with input from diverse employees. Many companies are adopting a fully flexible, loose policy where employees and teams can build their schedules themselves.
Others are building stricter policy, which outlines set rules like specific office days or the number of days in the office. Usually, stricter policies will also incorporate more details and information about the different teams and roles and emphasizes the role of in-person collaboration.
Last but not least, specificity and clear communication are essential as you build and roll out your hybrid work guidelines.
Who should create and own the hybrid work policy?
The hybrid work policy is usually owned, built, communicated, and maintained by the Human Capital (HC/HR) department. There are many different roles and departments that are involved too, like Facilities and Office management, IT, as well as various management and leadership positions that also keep track of important KPIs.
HR – the owners of the hybrid work guidelines. Usually, the human capital department will work with all stakeholders to create, communicate and update the policy.
Office & Facilities – the enablers of hybrid work. The facilities department has a very important role in enabling hybrid work by ensuring the offices are suitable for it. For example, they will be responsible for setting up hot desks, phone booths, collaboration, and other spaces that are key to the success of flexible working.
IT – the supporters of the hybrid work. Hybrid working requires the full attention and support of the IT department. They will help set up different neighborhoods in the office with different IT equipment like Monitors. Of course, they will also ensure that the company information is secured and the company is fully compliant with the practices it should follow.
Management/Leadership – the drivers. Hybrid work is not possible without the full and complete support of the company leadership. The leadership team is the bus driver, and they should feel this is the right direction of travel. Without their support, hybrid working will be tough. Learn how the leaders of the largest organizations are adopting hybrid work.
Employees – the adopters. None of these matter if the employees don’t recognize and adopt the processes, tools, and guidelines written in the policy. The employees are the key asset of every organization. We want to give them enough flexibility and means to collaborate, grow and learn from the experience of others. They are the key stakeholders for the success of your hybrid work policy.
What to include in the policy?
As discussed, the hybrid work policy should be co-created with your key stakeholders – your employees. Then it should answer any questions and clearly communicate all working guidelines. In a nutshell, it should answer the question – ‘How do we work?’. This may include detailed schedules or guidelines for scheduling. Eventually, it may also include an approvals process to establish and enforce the rules in stricter policies in order to avoid potential future mistakes.
The following is the list of questions that can guide you in what to include in the policy. Following the Golden Circle by Simon Sinek, we will start with the Why, then the How, and end with the What:
Why go hybrid? For employees to follow a new (hybrid) work policy, they need to understand why we’re doing it. As the most fundamental question, it is also the most important one. If we co-created it in partnership with your teams, this part should be very easy. We do it for our employees! Other than that, do it because we will save a lot of time, as well as real estate costs. Ultimately it should be good for the business as well. Read more about “Why go hybrid” here.
How do we go hybrid? Your policy should be very specific about how you will do it. Be specific about the tools and infrastructure that will be used, as well as all the supporting materials, solutions and communication schedules.
What is our hybrid work policy? Let’s dig into some more important questions:
Who is it for? Are all employees able to work on a hybrid schedule? Or is it only for employees in specific geographies, areas of the business, or teams? Is it based on seniority or longevity at the company? Does it require managerial approval or is it based on personal situations? Be sure to make this clear so employees know whether they qualify. More importantly, make it logical and easy to explain why this is the case.
When should employees be in an office? You can either create a clear schedule for every day of the week and for every team (which is very difficult and we will advise against it) or you should create a logic that employees can easily follow. Many organizations specify something like 2 days a week or 5 days a month and let your employees/teams decide. Others might have a day in the week when everyone is required in the office and a more flexible schedule on the other days. Others might prefer teams to develop strict schedules with their managers to know exactly who will be where at any given time.
What about flexible work hours? Do you have specific expectations from employees when they’re working remotely, as opposed to on-site? Since you’re accommodating a flexible schedule, the hours you may expect employees to work could shift. For example, if your teams are working in broad geographies and different timezones, you may create specific rules to start earlier or later depending on the time differences to maximize collaboration between locations.
Where can employees find the policy? Your hybrid work guidelines should be always available and easy to access. You may use something like Confluence, Sharepoint, or other internal site infrastructure.
What’s the future of the policy? Remember that you will never answer all questions with any policy. Aim to start small and expand as you learn more and adapt. Creating the perfect work environment is a means, not an end. You can also hold regular live meetings where folks can drop in and ask questions, suggest improvements and help create a better workplace.
How to promote it and ensure high adoption?
Always remember that hybrid work is a very big change for your employees, including the leaders and everyone involved. As with any other change, you can follow a thoughtful process that can ensure higher adoption and better results. The general rule of change management suggests that the following 8 steps can help make it seamless:
Establish a sense of urgency – for example, “we need to adopt hybrid work because we want to spend more time together and emphasize our culture!”
Create a guiding coalition – who’ll be your hybrid heroes to support the change and help with the adoption?
Develop a vision and strategy – your hybrid work policy should be the cornerstone content of your hybrid work vision.
Communicate the change vision – communicate using all possible channels – all-hands meetings, emails, slack, etc. Get ready to communicate it a hundred times to increase high adoption.
Empower employees for broad-based action – get everyone involved in the process to win their support!
Generating short-term wins – find and present positive outcomes quickly after adopting the new policy. This can emphasize the benefits and generate more excitement.
Consolidate gains and produce more change – use proper analytics and reporting to expose the outcomes of hybrid work and the benefits you see to further promote flexible work to all stakeholders, including your leadership.
Anchor new approaches in the culture – as noted, finding the most optimal way of working is a never-ending process. Promote a culture of change and be ready to modify and adapt the policy to the changing environment.
You can learn more by watching this short video called ‘Our iceberg is melting‘! I’m sure you will love it.
Further reading and considerations
Trust is the foundation of hybrid and flexible work! You have to trust your employees and teams that they will get their job done—and trust that they know the best way to do it. A hybrid work policy allows you to set guidelines, create clarity, and empower people to build schedules that work for them. As a result of it, you will see better engagement, more productive employees, and a flexible work culture that thrives.
Miro Miroslavov is a software engineer turned into a tech entrepreneur. In 2015 he co-founded OfficeRnD - a leading flex space and hybrid work management platform. As a CEO at OfficeRnD, he grew the company from inception to a leading software vendor that serves thousands of customers worldwide. He is a big fan of flexible working and is on a mission to "Making Flexible Working the Way of Working".
Set up the system on your own, following our detailed video guide. We will send you a step-by-step daily email with video tutorials on how to configure OfficeRnD. Once you аre ready, we will put you in contact with an onboarding specialist for up to 2 hours of Q&A sessions, where you can ask questions and verify your setup.
Key Details
PriceFREE
SettingRemote
Duration2h
Overview
Take advantage of this 6-hour dedicated onboarding process during which our team helps you set OfficeRnD up following best practices. We will start with a short kick-off session to discuss your current processes, timelines, integrations and outline a step-by-step plan to ensure the smooth adoption of the system on your end. Our Onboarding Specialists will make the most effective use of your time together working to empower you to take full advantage of the system capabilities on your own.
What’s Included:
Together we will outline an onboarding plan with action items and milestones.
We will regularly review the progress of the setup and guide you to the next steps.
Together we will create strategies for addressing complex use cases.
We will guide you over email and screen-sharing calls.
We will extensively review the final setup of the system and be available to immediately jump on a call on the go-live date.
We will help you set up and run your first bill run. We will also help you automate all the others.
2 training modules.
Key Details
Price$299
SettingRemote
Duration6h
Overview
This onboarding package is best for multi-location teams with complicated workflows. We will start with a short kick-off session to discuss your current processes, timelines, integrations and outline a step-by-step plan to ensure the smooth adoption of the system on your end. Our Onboarding Specialists will make the most effective use of your time together working to empower you to take full advantage of the system capabilities and reporting tools on your own.
What’s Included:
Together we will outline an onboarding plan with action items and milestones.
We will regularly review the progress of the setup and guide you to the next steps.
Together we will create strategies for addressing complex use cases.
We will guide you over email and screen-sharing calls.
We will extensively review the final setup of the system and be available to immediately jump on a call on the go-live date.
We will help you set up and run your first bill run. We will also help you automate all the others.
4 training modules
Key Details
Price$599
SettingRemote
Duration12h
Overview
Get familiar with the essentials in the Basic Support Package.
What’s Included:
Email & Chat Support – Our support team is available to customers via chat and email at [email protected] Monday-Friday from 7:00AM to 5:00PM UTC.
Monthly Training Webinars – Joins us monthly for a short and focused webinar on the features of OfficeRnD where our team discusses how to best take advantage of different parts of the system and addresses commonly asked questions.
Onboarding – Basic onboarding
Initial Response Time – Normal severity (24h), Restricted Operation (24h) and Critical (4h)
Key Details
PriceFREE
Setting Remote
Overview
Get familiar with the essentials in the Standard Support Package.
What’s Included:
Email & Chat Support – Our support team is available to customers via chat and email at [email protected] Monday-Friday from 7:00AM to 5:00PM UTC.
Monthly Training Webinars – Joins us monthly for a short and focused webinar on the features of OfficeRnD where our team discusses how to best take advantage of different parts of the system and addresses commonly asked questions.
Dedicated Q&A Support Sessions (1 hour / month) – Get direct access to one of our lead support specialists and book up to 4 hours of screen-sharing calls per month.
Onboarding – Basic Onboarding
Initial Response Time – Normal severity (24h), Restricted Operation (16h) and Critical (4h)
Key details
Price$149
SettingRemote
Overview
Get familiar with the essentials in the Premium Support Package.
What’s Included:
Email & Chat Support – Our support team is available to customers via chat and email at [email protected] Monday-Friday from 7:00AM to 5:00PM UTC.
Monthly Training Webinars – Joins us monthly for a short and focused webinar on the features of OfficeRnD where our team discusses how to best take advantage of different parts of the system and addresses commonly asked questions.
Dedicated Q&A Support Sessions (4 hours / month) – Get direct access to one of our lead support specialists and book up to 4 hours of screen-sharing calls per month.
Onboarding – Basic Onboarding
Initial Response Time – Normal severity (24h), Restricted Operation (8h) and Critical (1h)
Key details
Price$299
SettingRemote
Overview
Get direct access to one of our lead support specialists and book up to 4 hours of screen-sharing calls per month with them.
What’s Included:
You get direct access to a lead support specialist.
We will prioritize your support requests.
Together we will discuss strategies for addressing custom use cases.
Together we will discuss your feature requests.
Together we will troubleshoot any issues.
We will show you the latest new features in the system.
Key Details
Price$150/month
SettingRemote
Duration4h/month
Overview
We will cover the basic CRM functionalities OfficeRnD supports. We will show you how to create, update and delete companies, members and opportunities. We will show you how to create custom properties to better describe them. We’ll demonstrate how to create memberships for members, change their status and invite them on the members portal.
Learn How To:
Add a company.
Add a company member.
Add an individual member.
Assign a membership to a member.
Invoice memberships in 3,6 or 12-month periods.
Add a one-off fee to a member’s profile.
Invite a member to the members portal.
Invite multiple members to the members portal.
Change the email of a member.
Pause a membership.
Mark companies and members as former and what that means for their access to the portal.
Manually add day passes.
Add custom properties to a company/member.
Extend the information captured for opportunities.
Key Details
Price$150
SettingRemote
Duration60min
Overview
We will cover all billing options available in OfficeRnD. We will show you how to create tax rates and revenue accounts, how will they be applied on invoices and what discounting options the system provides. We will demonstrate how to create invoices and manually run the bill run. We will also together review the billing settings in the system and automate the billing operations.
Learn How To:
Configure your tax rates and revenue accounts.
Add discounts and apply those to memberships.
Review the billing settings and automate billing operations.
Raise an invoice
Raise multiple invoices with a manual BillRun.
Understand invoice statuses.
Edit an invoice.
Charge invoices.
Record a refund on invoices.
Create an invoice for a period of longer than 1 month.
Review outstanding not-invoiced fees and memberships.
Key Details
Price$150
SettingRemote
Duration60min
Overview
We will show you how to create meeting rooms and configure their pricing options, booking and cancellation policies. We will cover how to create booking credits – hourly and value-based. We will demonstrate how to make a booking and how to review its corresponding fee.
Learn How To:
Understand resource rates and how to add one.
Add a meeting room and set its privacy.
Configure booking and cancellation policies.
Add a booking.
Update and cancel a booking.
Add extras as purchasable options available with a meeting room booking.
Manually add booking credits to members.
Invoice bookings.
Review bookings and take advantage of the Bookings Report.
Change the business hours of the space.
Change the visibility of the bookings on the members portal.
Key Details
Price$150
SettingRemote
Duration60min
Overview
We will go over what a contract is, what are its building blocks, and what types of contracts OfficeRnD provides. We will show you how to create contracts, how to sign and how-to terminate them. We will also discuss the lifecycle of each contract.
Learn How To:
Use contracts and what they are for.
Create a Membership Agreement, a License Agreement or a Lease Agreement.
Add a contract.
Generate a contract PDF document.
Sign a contract.
Differentiate memberships attached to a contract.
Different stages of a contract and how to terminate it.
Configure and implement a contract approval process.
Key Details
Price$100
SettingRemote
Duration30min
Overview
We will show you the default resource types available in OfficeRnD. We will cover how they can be edited and when should you create custom resource types. We will demonstrate how to assign memberships on the floorplan and how to accommodate floorplan changes.
Learn How To:
Understand the default resource types and how to track their occupancy and utilization.
Create private offices and desks.
Assign resources to members.
Assign memberships on the floorplan.
Relocate a membership.
Upgrade or downgrade a membership on the floorplan.
Change a meeting room to an office and vice versa.
Replace a dedicated desk with a hotdesk and vice versa.
Create custom resource types.
Key Details
Price$100
SettingRemote
Duration30min
Overview
We will cover how to collaborate with members via the members portal and the mobile app. We will show you how to create posts and events. We will demonstrate how to upload information about benefits and different how-to guides on the members portal. We will also go through integrations that power up collaboration with members.
Learn How To:
Take a short overview of the members portal and the different type of users and their permissions.
Add posts.
Add events.
Add benefits.
Add How-To Guides.
Find where members can add issues and where you can review them.
Set up integration with Slack and its benefits.
Connect OfficeRnD with Eventbrite using Zapier.
Key Details
Price$100
SettingRemote
Duration30min
Overview
We will cover the billing reports available in the system. We will show you how to use each one and dive deeper into the data it exposes.
Learn How To:
Find the billing charts available on the OfficeRnD Dashboard
Use the Revenue Dashboard
Use the Memberships Dashboard
Use the Projected Revenue Report
Use the Invoiced Revenue Report
Export invoices.
Customize the invoices export.
Use the Memberships Report.
Use the Members Report.
Key Details
Price$100
SettingRemote
Duration30min
Overview
We will cover the occupancy and utilization reports available in the system. We will show you how to use each one and dive deeper into the data it exposes.
Learn How To:
Use the Occupancy Dashboards.
Use the Occupancy Report for private offices and dedicated desks.
Use the Occupancy Interval report.
Use the Resource Utilization report.
Key Details
Price$100
SettingRemote
Duration30min
Overview
Set up the system on your own, following our detailed video guide. We will send you a step-by-step daily email with video tutorials on how to configure OfficeRnD. Once you аre ready, we will put you in contact with an onboarding specialist for up to 2 hours of Q&A sessions, where you can ask questions and verify your setup.
Key Details
PriceFREE
SettingRemote
Duration2h
Overview
Take advantage of this 6-hour dedicated onboarding process during which our team helps you set OfficeRnD up following best practices. We will start with a short kick-off session to discuss your current processes, timelines, integrations and outline a step-by-step plan to ensure the smooth adoption of the system on your end. Our Onboarding Specialists will make the most effective use of your time together working to empower you to take full advantage of the system capabilities on your own.
What’s Included:
Together we will outline an onboarding plan with action items and milestones.
We will regularly review the progress of the setup and guide you to the next steps.
Together we will create strategies for addressing complex use cases.
We will guide you over email and screen-sharing calls.
We will extensively review the final setup of the system and be available to immediately jump on a call on the go-live date.
We will help you set up and run your first bill run. We will also help you automate all the others.
2 training modules.
Key Details
Price$299
SettingRemote
Duration6h
Overview
This onboarding package is best for multi-location teams with complicated workflows. We will start with a short kick-off session to discuss your current processes, timelines, integrations and outline a step-by-step plan to ensure the smooth adoption of the system on your end. Our Onboarding Specialists will make the most effective use of your time together working to empower you to take full advantage of the system capabilities and reporting tools on your own.
What’s Included:
Together we will outline an onboarding plan with action items and milestones.
We will regularly review the progress of the setup and guide you to the next steps.
Together we will create strategies for addressing complex use cases.
We will guide you over email and screen-sharing calls.
We will extensively review the final setup of the system and be available to immediately jump on a call on the go-live date.
We will help you set up and run your first bill run. We will also help you automate all the others.
4 training modules
Key Details
Price$599
SettingRemote
Duration12h
Overview
Get familiar with the essentials in the Basic Support Package.
What’s Included:
Email & Chat Support – Our support team is available to customers via chat and email at [email protected] Monday-Friday from 7:00AM to 5:00PM UTC.
Monthly Training Webinars – Joins us monthly for a short and focused webinar on the features of OfficeRnD where our team discusses how to best take advantage of different parts of the system and addresses commonly asked questions.
Onboarding – Basic onboarding
Initial Response Time – Normal severity (24h), Restricted Operation (24h) and Critical (4h)
Key Details
PriceFREE
Setting Remote
Overview
Get familiar with the essentials in the Standard Support Package.
What’s Included:
Email & Chat Support – Our support team is available to customers via chat and email at [email protected] Monday-Friday from 7:00AM to 5:00PM UTC.
Monthly Training Webinars – Joins us monthly for a short and focused webinar on the features of OfficeRnD where our team discusses how to best take advantage of different parts of the system and addresses commonly asked questions.
Dedicated Q&A Support Sessions (1 hour / month) – Get direct access to one of our lead support specialists and book up to 4 hours of screen-sharing calls per month.
Onboarding – Basic Onboarding
Initial Response Time – Normal severity (24h), Restricted Operation (16h) and Critical (4h)
Key details
Price$149
SettingRemote
Overview
Get familiar with the essentials in the Premium Support Package.
What’s Included:
Email & Chat Support – Our support team is available to customers via chat and email at [email protected] Monday-Friday from 7:00AM to 5:00PM UTC.
Monthly Training Webinars – Joins us monthly for a short and focused webinar on the features of OfficeRnD where our team discusses how to best take advantage of different parts of the system and addresses commonly asked questions.
Dedicated Q&A Support Sessions (4 hours / month) – Get direct access to one of our lead support specialists and book up to 4 hours of screen-sharing calls per month.
Onboarding – Basic Onboarding
Initial Response Time – Normal severity (24h), Restricted Operation (8h) and Critical (1h)
Key details
Price$299
SettingRemote
Overview
Get direct access to one of our lead support specialists and book up to 4 hours of screen-sharing calls per month with them.
What’s Included:
You get direct access to a lead support specialist.
We will prioritize your support requests.
Together we will discuss strategies for addressing custom use cases.
Together we will discuss your feature requests.
Together we will troubleshoot any issues.
We will show you the latest new features in the system.
Key Details
Price$150/month
SettingRemote
Duration4h/month
Overview
We will cover the basic CRM functionalities OfficeRnD supports. We will show you how to create, update and delete companies, members and opportunities. We will show you how to create custom properties to better describe them. We’ll demonstrate how to create memberships for members, change their status and invite them on the members portal.
Learn How To:
Add a company.
Add a company member.
Add an individual member.
Assign a membership to a member.
Invoice memberships in 3,6 or 12-month periods.
Add a one-off fee to a member’s profile.
Invite a member to the members portal.
Invite multiple members to the members portal.
Change the email of a member.
Pause a membership.
Mark companies and members as former and what that means for their access to the portal.
Manually add day passes.
Add custom properties to a company/member.
Extend the information captured for opportunities.
Key Details
Price$150
SettingRemote
Duration60min
Overview
We will cover all billing options available in OfficeRnD. We will show you how to create tax rates and revenue accounts, how will they be applied on invoices and what discounting options the system provides. We will demonstrate how to create invoices and manually run the bill run. We will also together review the billing settings in the system and automate the billing operations.
Learn How To:
Configure your tax rates and revenue accounts.
Add discounts and apply those to memberships.
Review the billing settings and automate billing operations.
Raise an invoice
Raise multiple invoices with a manual BillRun.
Understand invoice statuses.
Edit an invoice.
Charge invoices.
Record a refund on invoices.
Create an invoice for a period of longer than 1 month.
Review outstanding not-invoiced fees and memberships.
Key Details
Price$150
SettingRemote
Duration60min
Overview
We will show you how to create meeting rooms and configure their pricing options, booking and cancellation policies. We will cover how to create booking credits – hourly and value-based. We will demonstrate how to make a booking and how to review its corresponding fee.
Learn How To:
Understand resource rates and how to add one.
Add a meeting room and set its privacy.
Configure booking and cancellation policies.
Add a booking.
Update and cancel a booking.
Add extras as purchasable options available with a meeting room booking.
Manually add booking credits to members.
Invoice bookings.
Review bookings and take advantage of the Bookings Report.
Change the business hours of the space.
Change the visibility of the bookings on the members portal.
Key Details
Price$150
SettingRemote
Duration60min
Overview
We will go over what a contract is, what are its building blocks, and what types of contracts OfficeRnD provides. We will show you how to create contracts, how to sign and how-to terminate them. We will also discuss the lifecycle of each contract.
Learn How To:
Use contracts and what they are for.
Create a Membership Agreement, a License Agreement or a Lease Agreement.
Add a contract.
Generate a contract PDF document.
Sign a contract.
Differentiate memberships attached to a contract.
Different stages of a contract and how to terminate it.
Configure and implement a contract approval process.
Key Details
Price$100
SettingRemote
Duration30min
Overview
We will show you the default resource types available in OfficeRnD. We will cover how they can be edited and when should you create custom resource types. We will demonstrate how to assign memberships on the floorplan and how to accommodate floorplan changes.
Learn How To:
Understand the default resource types and how to track their occupancy and utilization.
Create private offices and desks.
Assign resources to members.
Assign memberships on the floorplan.
Relocate a membership.
Upgrade or downgrade a membership on the floorplan.
Change a meeting room to an office and vice versa.
Replace a dedicated desk with a hotdesk and vice versa.
Create custom resource types.
Key Details
Price$100
SettingRemote
Duration30min
Overview
We will cover how to collaborate with members via the members portal and the mobile app. We will show you how to create posts and events. We will demonstrate how to upload information about benefits and different how-to guides on the members portal. We will also go through integrations that power up collaboration with members.
Learn How To:
Take a short overview of the members portal and the different type of users and their permissions.
Add posts.
Add events.
Add benefits.
Add How-To Guides.
Find where members can add issues and where you can review them.
Set up integration with Slack and its benefits.
Connect OfficeRnD with Eventbrite using Zapier.
Key Details
Price$100
SettingRemote
Duration30min
Overview
We will cover the billing reports available in the system. We will show you how to use each one and dive deeper into the data it exposes.
Learn How To:
Find the billing charts available on the OfficeRnD Dashboard
Use the Revenue Dashboard
Use the Memberships Dashboard
Use the Projected Revenue Report
Use the Invoiced Revenue Report
Export invoices.
Customize the invoices export.
Use the Memberships Report.
Use the Members Report.
Key Details
Price$100
SettingRemote
Duration30min
Overview
We will cover the occupancy and utilization reports available in the system. We will show you how to use each one and dive deeper into the data it exposes.
Learn How To:
Use the Occupancy Dashboards.
Use the Occupancy Report for private offices and dedicated desks.