Hybrid Work Policy: Guidelines and Template to Make Hybrid Work

A hybrid work policy is a set of guidelines that defines where, how, and when employees work from the office and when they work remotely.

Hybrid work is now the default for most office-based teams. Among remote-capable employees in the US, 51% work in a hybrid model and only 21% are fully on-site, according to Gallup’s 2025 data. Hybrid employees spend about 46% of their week in the office, or 2.3 days.

The harder part is making the arrangement feel fair. A clear, well-communicated policy is what drives better adoption and satisfaction, and it’s easier to build than most teams expect.

In this post, we’ll build a hybrid work policy together, based on our experience working with hundreds of companies.

Contents

1. What is a hybrid work policy?
2. Who should create and own the hybrid work policy?
3. What to include in the policy?
4. How to promote it and ensure high adoption?
5. Hybrid work policy template
6. Common hybrid work policy models
7. Further reading and considerations
8. FAQ

What is a hybrid work policy?

A hybrid work policy outlines where, how, and when employees work from the office or remotely. In practice it gets complicated, because different teams have different requirements, preferences, and expectations about their schedules.

Your policy should outline your expectations and responsibilities for your hybrid workforce, and lay out a set of guidelines for hybrid workplace operations. That includes any requirements, processes, and best practices employees follow to set their hybrid schedule and coordinate within and across teams.

The process of building the policy should be inclusive, collaborative, and designed with input from a range of employees. Many companies adopt a fully flexible policy where employees and teams build their own schedules.

Others build a stricter policy that sets specific office days or a minimum number of days in the office. Stricter policies usually add more detail about teams and roles and make the case for in-person collaboration.

Whichever model you choose, specificity and clear communication decide whether it works.

Who should create and own the hybrid work policy?

The hybrid work policy is usually owned, built, communicated, and maintained by the Human Resources (HR) department. Several other roles are involved too, including Facilities and Office management, IT, and the leadership team that tracks important KPIs.

• HR – the owners of the hybrid work guidelines. HR works with all stakeholders to create, communicate, and update the policy.
• Office & Facilities – the enablers. Facilities makes the office suitable for hybrid work, for example by setting up hot desks, phone booths, collaboration, and other spaces that flexible working depends on.
• IT – the supporters. Hybrid working needs IT to set up office areas with the right equipment, such as monitors, and to keep company information secure and compliant.
• Management/Leadership – the drivers. Hybrid work needs full support from company leadership. Leaders set the direction and signal that the change matters. Without that backing, adoption stalls. See how leaders of the largest organizations are adopting hybrid work.
• Employees – the adopters. None of this matters unless employees recognize and adopt the processes, tools, and guidelines in the policy. They are the key stakeholders for its success.

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.

It should answer one question: “How do we work?” That 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.

  The What breaks down into more specific questions:

• 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 the office? Set a logic people can follow rather than a fixed grid for every team. Many organizations set something like 2 days a week or a minimum number of days a month and let teams decide the rest. For reference, US hybrid employees average about 2.3 days in the office per week (Gallup, 2025).
  • Who decides the schedule? Gallup’s data makes the case for involving teams. When a team sets its own schedule, 91% of its members call the policy fair, the same rate as when individuals choose for themselves. When leadership sets it alone, that drops to 73%.
  • What about flexible work hours? Set clear expectations for remote vs on-site hours. For teams across time zones, you might ask people to start earlier or later to maximize overlap.
  • 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?

Hybrid work is a big change for everyone, including leaders. As with any change, a thoughtful process improves adoption. The 8 steps of Kotter’s change model can help the rollout land:

1. Establish a sense of urgency. For example: “We want to spend more time together and strengthen our culture.”
2. Create a guiding coalition – who’ll be your hybrid heroes to support the change and help with the adoption?
3. Develop a vision and strategy – your hybrid work policy should be the cornerstone content of your hybrid work vision.
4. 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.
5. Empower employees for broad-based action – get everyone involved in the process to win their support!
6. Generate short-term wins. Surface positive outcomes quickly to show the benefits and build momentum.
7. 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.
8. 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.

Hybrid work policy template

Use this outline as a starting point and adapt it to your company. A workable hybrid work policy usually covers:

• Purpose: why your company works hybrid, in one or two sentences.
• Scope: who the policy applies to, and any roles or teams it excludes.
• Office expectations: required days, anchor days, or a minimum per week or month.
• Scheduling: who decides the schedule (individual, team, or manager) and how to book a desk or room.
• Working hours: core hours, time-zone rules, and availability expectations.
• Equipment and setup: what the company provides for home and office.
• Communication norms: where decisions are recorded and how meetings run for mixed in-person and remote groups.
• Where to find the policy: the single place it lives, such as your intranet.
• Review cadence: when and how you revisit the policy.

Common hybrid work policy models

Most hybrid policies fall into one of a few models:

• Fixed schedule: the company sets specific in-office days for everyone. Predictable, but rigid.
• Anchor days: teams come in on set days, say Tuesday and Thursday, and choose the rest. This is the most common way to make sure colleagues overlap.
• Minimum days: employees come in a set number of days per week or month and pick which ones.
• Fully flexible: employees decide where they work, with few fixed requirements. Best for high-trust, results-focused teams.

Whichever model you pick, base the office expectations on how the office is actually used. Occupancy and booking data show which days and spaces are busy, so you can set norms from real patterns instead of guesswork.

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.

If you want to learn more, you can download our free “Guidelines and Policies for Optimizing your Hybrid Workplace” eBook! We also have a good guide on office hoteling policy.

FAQ

What is a hybrid work policy?

A hybrid work policy is a set of guidelines that defines where, how, and when employees work from the office and when they work remotely.

What should a hybrid work policy include?

At a minimum: the purpose, who it applies to, office-day expectations, how schedules are decided, working hours, equipment, communication norms, where to find the policy, and how often it’s reviewed.

How many days a week is hybrid work?

It varies, but US hybrid employees average about 2.3 days in the office per week (Gallup, 2025). Many companies set 2 to 3 days, often as anchor days.

Who owns the hybrid work policy?

HR usually owns it, with input from Facilities, IT, and leadership. Employees should help shape it.

How do you make a hybrid work policy fair?

Involve teams in setting their own schedules. Gallup found 91% of employees see the policy as fair when they or their team decide the schedule, versus 73% when leadership decides alone.

Is hybrid work declining?

No. Gallup’s data shows work-location trends have stayed fairly stable since 2022, with hybrid the dominant model for remote-capable employees.