In 2023, 12.7% of full-time employees work from home while 28.2% work through a hybrid method — working from home some days and the office other days. This method is only growing in popularity. However there are a number of different ways to model your remote or hybrid work methods. Let’s break down some of the methods that workplaces find most popular and successful:
#1 – Office First Hybrid
This style of hybrid remote work prioritizes time in the office while still allowing employees the flexibility to work from home. They may work in the office 3 or 4 days a week and spend the remaining 1 or 2 working from home. Or they may have several days per month to work from home. The days they choose are typically their choice.
This model is great for workplaces that prioritize a culture of working together in the office. It can also be beneficial to ensure that employees always work in the office, as remote work days can be staggered amongst your team.
#2 – Partly Remote Hybrid
In a partly remote hybrid method, some departments of your business are fully remote while others are fully office workers. There may be some departments in your business, such as payroll, that don’t need to be in the office in order to do their job well. Others may need access to local software or to other departments that are in the office. Your receptionist, for instance, would need to be in the office.
This method can help you save money on office equipment because you will have fewer people in your physical office. However, your on-premises work can still carry on efficiently.
#3 – Asynchronous Remote
In an asynchronous remote model, your team works from home on their own schedule. This means you might have some team members working 9-5 while others work from 5-9. They may even work from different time zones around the world. They set their own hours and work from whatever location they prefer. You may have occasional meetings in the office, but for the most part, you communicate over a messaging system like Teams or Slack, and everyone works at their own pace to meet deadlines.
Asynchronous remote work can open up the opportunity to find talent all over the world, and it can be a boon for employees who might have kids or other commitments besides work to set their own schedules. However, it can be difficult to form a sense of community when everyone is on their own schedule. Make use of the work chat as best you can.
#4 – Synchronous Remote
On the other hand, with synchronous remote work, everyone works from home, but they work simultaneously. They may still work a typical 9-5 schedule, 5 days a week, but they will work from their home offices, bedrooms, coffee shops, or libraries. With a synchronous remote system, you may not be able to hire people from different time zones, but it does give a sense that everyone is working together as they would in an office.
#5 – Fully Flexible Hybrid
Another option is to allow your employees to choose when to work from home and when to come into the office. With fully flexible work models, either all employees or all salaried employees are hybrid and may choose to work from home or to come into the office on any given day.
This form of hybrid work is a great way to give employees a sense of independence, but there are challenges to it. Primarily, it can be difficult to coordinate what will be done in the office if you don’t know who will be in the office on what day. It may help to ask employees to choose their remote work days a week beforehand so that you know what to expect.
#6 – Remote Time
You’ve likely worked in an office that had “casual Friday,” in which they allowed employees to work in jeans and a t-shirt. Remote time can sometimes look like casual Friday, except instead of dressing casually, everyone works from home on Fridays — or whatever the designated remote day is. It can be weekly, biweekly, monthly, and so on.
This model relies on remote work as an incentive. It can be a great perk to bring in new talent while still maintaining the structure of on-premises work. If your workplace is best suited to on-premises work, but you want to join the trend, remote time can be a great way to do so.
