Why the C-suite should stay out of hybrid work scheduling

Companies tracking the results of a structured hybrid schedule are liking the results of steady office attendance and increased facetime with customers.   

Hybrid work platform Robin studied data from their U.S. customers between January to June of this year, and found that one-third of employers implemented a consistent hybrid schedule for their workers. Of these, 91% of employees are coming in two to three days per week. Additionally, respondents reported a 23% increase in desk bookings and a 25% increase in meeting room reservations. 

Employees' return has been accompanied by a dramatic uptick in meetings with external guests — customers being the largest group — which increased 147%. That aligns with recent research by MIT, which showed that the most valuable communication is done in-person, and further research found that over eight in 10 executives would choose in-person meetings over virtual. 

"We're starting to see some of the serendipity come back in, and that's helpful for reinvigorating people's relationship with the office," says Zach Dunn, Robin's co-founder. "People are starting to welcome visitors more into their on-site experience — this can include on-site interviews, customer visits, and people visiting from sister offices. What it means is you have another layer of unpredictability that's coming into play again, and [it's] exciting."

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Employees want to reap the benefits of a more regular routine as well: 60% of workers want more structure regarding their organization's hybrid policy, according to Gallup. Favorite days to come in are Tuesday through Thursday, according to Robin's data, with Mondays and Fridays serving as preferred days to work from home. In quarter two, they found that 31% of employees came in the same days of the week every week (up from 23% in quarter one), with another 32% coming in on a semi-consistent schedule (up from 21% in quarter one). 

While employees may crave consistency, a blanket hybrid schedule dictated by the top of the organization may not be best practice for a smooth adoption. When it comes to nailing down which days people are in-person, office managers and frontline managers — not the C-suite — should be responsible for designing the best schedule for individuals and teams, says Dunn. 

"People want the freedom to develop a routine, and they want to be able to make revisions to that routine from time to time," he says. "We've seen customers create working contracts or team working contracts, where a smaller division of a department or functional team decides [on the] routine to participate in and the type of work [that will be brought] into the office." 

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Dunn encourages employers to use data from platforms like Robin to track hybrid patterns as they emerge, and add this to feedback from employees to see if adjustments should be made. Implementing structure is important for employees because it provides a sense of control and improves organization and productivity, according to mental health platform Verywell Mind, but creating a widely-accepted policy takes work, says Dunn.

"No one gets it right the first time," he says. "More importantly, everyone who is doing hybrid is relatively new. Having a finger on the pulse of the data allows feedback on whether or not your strategy is working. If they don't have some rapid feedback loop, they're going to fall behind or miss opportunities to make sure that their people are supported. This is a weekly update, a monthly update, and small tweaks along the way."