Connected hybrid working: Have we finally figured it out?

Or have we just stopped talking about it as much?

Ask your favorite hybrid team people manager and you’ll find that many still struggle with how to get the hybrid challenge right. It may be less acceptable to talk about, but they’re still dealing, day-in, day-out with unequal employee experiences, questions around performance tracking and rising disengagement. The silent fallout facing even the organizations who’ve fully embraced hybrid working still causes headaches for HR around productivity and retention.

Hybrid remains relevant to 90% of US employers

In 2026, hybrid working has matured into a more structured, long-term norm for US knowledge workers. Almost 90% of US employers offer some form of hybrid option and over 75% now have codified formal hybrid working policies, often based on the three days in, two days remote model.

Where the focus was once on enabling the remote technology to enable people to connect, the priority now is to maintain - across a physically dispersed workforce – an inspiring workplace culture, an equal sense of belonging and inclusion and better equity around the employee experience.

Hybrid working is still (and will always be?) a rollercoaster

Managing corporate culture among a hybrid workforce isn’t easy, and even the most optimistic hybrid managers face a blend of challenges.

SurveyMonkey's 2026 remote and hybrid work study of over 3, 500 US employees found that:

• 46% of workers are concerned about missing out on building relationships with coworkers

• 33% worry that hybrid work creates difficulty in setting work-home boundaries

• 25% worry about career growth and the link between visibility and promotions

• 25% worry that hybrid arrangements create challenges in onboarding

• 25% worry that it will lead to declining trust between employees and management

According to the most recent U.S. Owl Labs State of Hybrid Work Survey:

30% of remote/hybrid workers believe they’re missing out on feedback opportunities by not being in the office
42% worry about not being seen or heard in meetings
44% cite a lack of mentoring as a primary concern

Fact: Many organizations lack a formal plan for effective hybrid collaboration (even when they have a policy)

In Gallup’s 2025 Post-Pandemic Workplace report, 60% of employees in hybrid models still struggle with the implementation and management of the split between home and office days.

Ask anyone you know who’s dealing with the 3 days in, 2 days remote model and they’ll have multiple stories around communication voids, task duplication, frustrating meetings or not being able to find a desk on shared on-site days.

For team leaders managing the process, it can be hard to connect and coordinate disparate working patterns and styles or to trust output they can’t see physically.

In fact, proximity bias remains one of the thorniest challenges. It’s easier to notice on-site contributions. And it can affect prospects too: according to the Robert Half 2025 Salary Guide, 61% of managers are more likely to offer promotions to employees they see in person.

What managers are up against

Keeping people mentally connected: in multiple recent studies, hybrid workers report feeling less connected to their company culture than they did a few years ago

Exhaustion: the now normalized ‘always on’ culture sees many hybrid workers (including the managers) reporting burnout as the boundaries between home and work life are blurred

Coordination overload: it’s not easy to manage multiple complex, rotating schedules or find time (or the physical space) for meetings that match everyone’s patterns

Tricky meeting dynamics: in blended in-person/remote meetings, people often talk more to those in the room. Online, it can be harder than usual for introverted types to make themselves heard. For the host, managing big personality differences and contrasting communication styles can feel 10 times harder when half the group is behind a screen and easily distracted.

Measurement: there’s a greater need for crystal clear role and project objectives, measurements and deliverables that evaluate impact rather than hours spent.

Onboarding and mentoring struggles: According to Gartner (2025), 60% of employees don’t get the on-the-job coaching they need to develop core skills in a hybrid environment. The reduction in incidental learning and creative conversations that come from informal touchpoints is a clear disadvantage for new recruits and junior (and all levels of) staff.

The positive side of hybrid working

For many, hybrid working is the perfect blend. Once-remote employees appreciate how a split location model helps them stay connected to their team and organization culture while still enjoying a degree of freedom and headspace in how they work.

And hybrid working means that managers can still bring relevant groups together for important in-person tasks like onboarding, brainstorming and teambuilding. They (supported by workable systems and infrastructure) just need to be more organized about it so that remote workers don’t miss out and great ideas don’t get lost.

But splitting your time and ingrained ways of working across multiple locations can cause not just personal admin stress, tech stress and confidence issues, but also resentments, envy and misunderstandings. It can also cause silos to develop and exacerbate isolation and team bonding issues.

That’s a lot for HR to be at the sharp end of! Supporting hybrid employees requires a unique mix of structure, flexibility and thoughtful communication.

Ten things you can do this week to help your hybrid workers feel connected and productive

10. Organize team-wide training on awareness of (and the impact on teamwork, engagement and productivity) of contrasting personality styles, communication preferences and habits.

9. Focus closely on how people listen and respond, especially when under pressure or stress. Empathy and active listening skills are more important than ever now. Better self-awareness is a game-changer in tackling workplace friction and pressures.

8. Outline optimal hybrid meeting etiquette and manners, and manage both manager and employee (and client) expectations around response times across different locations and working hours and patterns.

7. Invest in hybrid leadership training so that leaders, team leaders and managers become more aware of how to check in on wellbeing, lead inclusive meetings and recognise effort regardless of location.

6. Find ways to lessen the ‘aways on’ culture and tackle unhelpful overload habits, including those shown by leaders! Help employees manage boundaries and work rhythms by dedicating time blocks to collaboration and to focused, independent work.

5. Make physical and scheduled space for productive, shared anchor days when everyone is on site, and make in-person time way more purposeful: don’t leave interactions to chance or end up with empty offices. Plan sessions that emphasize collaboration, creative workshops, mentoring or team rituals.

4. Keep track of the employee experience: The experience of someone who spends one day a week on site is never going to match that of someone spending four days on site. Use surveys to compare hybrid experiences and on-site or remote groups. Ask about connection, ease of communication, efficiency and clarity.

3. Pay attention to silos. Communication breaks down when critical context gets trapped in private messages and email threads. Avoid duplicated work and missed deadlines caused by lack of organized systems for sharing progress, info and data.

2. Be hyper-alert to contrasting generational expectations and preferences. Accept that Gen Z will expect to work differently to the Boomer generation. Address it openly and bring in reverse mentoring to share knowledge and perspectives.

1. Research diverse training formats across remote and on-site working to suit different learning styles. The hybrid model does challenge personal and group development because it disrupts social-cultural learning (the way humans naturally learn from each other through interaction).

And let’s not forget…

Unlike a couple of years ago when AI was still a relative novelty, it’s now embedded in daily workflows.

A major challenge in 2026 is that 50–55% of US jobs are being reshaped by AI, forcing managers to redesign roles for human-AI collaboration (and design and implement the training to prepare for them), as well as grappling with where their people are working.

If you work in HR or lead a team, it therefore might be time to read our blog on helping employees manage change fatigue...

High-performing teams are non-negotiable for successful organizations. Insights teams solutions help you tackle your most pressing team challenges on two fronts: how your team likes to work together and how well they work together. They provide practical and sustainable tools to help your teams collaborate effectively for success today and long into the future...

Team development