2024 Statistics of Hybrid Work Model You Should Know

The plans for many businesses beyond 2022 are still uncharted. A good part of the employers want their staff to come back to the office, but many employees wish to continue working from home. 

This dilemma puts the post-pandemic future at the center of the companies’ minds. Most of them arrived at the same result: using a model that combines remote working and in-office time. 

Enter the hybrid workplace model. This arrangement lets employees work remotely and come to the office between one and four days per week. It also has several other combinations that could prove helpful in particular cases. 

Hybrid work is a trending topic due to the positive experience most employers and employees had. Today, companies recognize the necessity to maximize flexibility, and this arrangement appears to be the best way forward. 

For that reason, it would be good to know several hybrid work statistics whether your organization hasn’t decided its future or is already actively planning to support this work arrangement. 

What Is a Hybrid Work Model?

A hybrid work model is an arrangement that implements a mix of in-office and remote work in the workforce’s schedule. Occasionally, employees can decide when and where they work remotely and when to come to the hybrid office. There isn’t a model that universally fits every company. 

In a hybrid work model, some employees might work fully remote, with the rest coming into the office every day. There’s also the usual case where most employees work at home for one or two days and attend the workplace for the remainder of the week. Each company has to develop a hybrid work strategy based on the needs of the company and each employee. 

While most people enjoy working from home, many of them also want to return to the days where they could interact with their coworkers freely. Nevertheless, how many employees feel that way? Let’s see some relevant return to work statistics from 2022. 

Hybrid Model Statistics You Should Know

There have been numerous hybrid work statistics, studies and surveys about the future of work. While most results indicate that hybrid models are the best way forward for most companies, it’s still a good idea to check them and see the exact sentiment. 

Most High-Growth Companies Employ Hybrid Work

According to a return to work statistics from Accenture, 63% of high-growth companies already use a hybrid work arrangement. It noted that regardless of your company’s location, ensuring your workforce is productive and healthy produces bottom-line benefits. For that reason, executives and team leaders should give employees resources tailored to their needs. 

Meanwhile, most no-growth businesses and those in the red (69%) still struggle with the concept of hybrid work. These either favor having all employees work remotely or in-office. 

Furthermore, a return to work statistics showed that 83% of the respondents said that employing a hybrid model is optimal. However, Accenture recognizes that most policies nowadays cater to in-office workers, so transitioning to a functioning model that satisfies the needs of all workers might be significantly challenging. 

Gen Z Workers Want to Experience In-Office Work

The report from Accenture also reveals that generation Z workers, colloquially referred to as zoomers, want some form of in-office work. Despite growing in an era where social media is significantly dominant, more than 74% of Gen Z respondents wish to interact with coworkers directly. 68% of Baby Boomers have the same sentiment, followed by 66% of Gen Xers return to work statistics. 

Compensation Changes for Hybrid and Remote Employees

The June 2022 Remote Work & Compensation Pulse Survey from Salary.com found that 92% of employers don’t have a system that determines compensation for employees who only work remotely part-time. However, when asked if their contributions were better or worse to the company than those of an in-office employee, 94% said they considered them the same. 

Furthermore, almost every employer (97%) reported that they wouldn’t lower an employee’s pay should they transition to or continue working remotely part-time. 

Regarding fully remote workers, 72% of employers mentioned there isn’t a formal method to determine adequate compensation for them. Likewise, when asked if their contributions were more or less valuable, 93% said that they were the same. 

95% of employers indicated that they wouldn’t reduce their worker’s compensation should they continue working fully remote. 35% also said they wouldn’t hire employees in a different geographic market at the same rate as an in-office employee.

Other notable hybrid work statistics regarding compensation are that 94% of employees believe payment should be determined by skillset, not geographic location. 9% of them already had moved to a different place, making it impossible to return to the office. 

Additionally, 83% said that they would leave their companies if they lower their compensation for working remotely. These return to work statistics facts didn’t stop some companies, such as Google, from significantly cutting remote workers’ salaries due to their geographical location. 

Hybrid Work Model’s Cost

In the Pulse of the American Worker Survey by Prudential in March 2022, 37% of employees said that adopting more flexible schedules would support hybrid work better. 

However, 34% of employees said their employers should provide resources to help them set up a home office. Another 33% mentioned that subsidizing expenses related to remote work would be the better decision. 

The previously hybrid work statistics mentioned Salary.com Remote Work & Compensation Pulse Survey determined that 51% of employers expect workers to return to the workplace at some point. However, they do mention offering flexible schedules to work remotely part-time. Only a minor part (19%) in the hybrid model statistics said that would require employees to return to the office full-time. 

These hybrid work statistics bring up many questions. For example, should employers pay work-from-home expenses if they can work full-time in the office? Companies need to establish policies before addressing these questions from their hybrid workforce as it helps smooth out the process. 

Setting up a workstation at home could be prohibitive for some employees or employers that subsidize expenses. After all, the equipment costs might even double. Some of the necessities include fast internet access, a work computer, software licenses, and more. 

Employers may also consider hiring remote employees from states or geographical locations where they aren’t present. However, doing so may result in the company having to navigate the employment laws from the state where the prospective employee works. Occasionally, they might have to pay higher tax rates as well. 

At worst, employees may incur double taxation, with two or more states trying to tax the same income. For that reason, companies have to consider several things when establishing guidelines and crafting hybrid work policies regarding these hires. 

They should carefully check the specific requirements of the state they plan to hire remote workers from and plan accordingly. One workaround would be hiring staffing agencies, as these can take care of these issues. 

A benefit of having a hybrid workforce is that your company can rent less space if fewer employees come to the office throughout the workweek. In the case of new leases, it might be a good idea to consider negotiating rent deferral or abatement to prevent any unforeseen circumstance that impedes workers from coming to the office. 

Other Hybrid Model Statistics

The Pulse of the American Worker Survey discovered that 87% of employees want to work from home at least one day of the week. 68% of American workers say that working in-office and remotely is the perfect model. 

According to the Remote Work & Compensation Survey, only 8% of remote employees would be willing to work in-office full-time after the pandemic phases out. On the other hand, 48% of workers want to work remotely permanently in the hybrid model statistics. The remaining 44% wish to work from home part-time. 

Another hybrid work statistics by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research found that 55% of respondents want to divide their time in-office and at home. 25% said they want to work remotely full-time, and the remaining 20% want to work exclusively in the office. 

This study also discovered that certain employees who tried working from home would get lonely after a while. That, or they would fall victim to one of the three enemies of remote working: the bed, the television, or the fridge. As a result, some just decided to return to the office after a while.

A hybrid work statistics report from The Economist Intelligence Unit found that 34% of workers said that one of the top sources of distraction in-office work was face-to-face interruptions. The following two in the hybrid model statistics were reading and responding to emails (29%) and general office distractions (23%).

It also said that 36% of respondents felt more focused working remotely than in-office, while 28% felt the opposite. 

Do these hybrid work statistics mean that this hybrid remote work model is the superior choice for businesses? It may be a little early to claim it is, but most factors are pointing that way. Determining which roles are best suited for remote, in-office, or a hybrid work arrangement is essential. It can help a company establish long-term goals to strive for in the future. 

How to Transition to a Hybrid Work Model

After getting acknowledgement from hybrid work statistics, let’s find out how to move to a hybrid office. If you want to benefit from a hybrid office environment, you need to ensure a smooth transition. Here are a couple of tips that can help you. 

Create a Clear Plan and Communicate It Well

Drafting a plan that shows how the company is handling the transition is essential. Of course, the contents depend on how it is operating now. For example, the plan from a fully remote company that never had a physical location might look significantly different from one that only temporarily shifted to working remotely. 

Nevertheless, there are a couple of things every transition plan should address. For instance, who works remotely, who works in-office, and when. Your company could develop general policies and guidelines but allow specific departments and teams to decide which jobs are suited for remote work or when and how often teams need to work in-office. 

Also, it’s crucial to explain the transition process. Is your company immediately opening its doors to welcome employees? Is it gradually phasing them back to the office? Do employees need some additional training to help them prepare for the transition? Is it necessary to implement a hybrid office layout to make this work arrangement possible? 

You can’t just decide you’re making the shift and expect it to work for the rest. If you want to be successful, ensure you have a plan in place. 

Enable Collaboration Between All Team Members

In a hybrid workplace, some employees work remotely and others in-office. If you want your organization to succeed, make it easy for employees to collaborate regardless of where they are. 

Adopt a hybrid work technology that enables remote connection and teamwork with ease. Having the capacity to edit documents simultaneously or pinging someone in real-time to ask a question is more valuable than it seems. 

In some cases, it might be a good idea to give remote workers a stipend to help them set up a proper work-from-home workstation. It doesn’t matter if it only involves purchasing an ergonomic chair. As long as it can help, it’s a good investment. 

Foster Relationships Between Remote and In-Office Workers

The most effective teams are those with good relationships. However, it’s challenging for relationships to form when the workforce is divided, especially for new remote hires that have never met coworkers in person. 

Hosting weekly team-building events where both remote and in-office workers participate is an excellent idea. Teams need a bit of trust and familiarity to perform adequately, and in hybrid work environments, you need to create these bonding opportunities for such things to form. 

Ensure Everyone Has Equal Opportunities

Proximity bias can lead you and other managers to favor the people closest to you, making it harder for remote employees to advance their careers. The previous point helps a bit in this matter, but you need to be conscious of this fact to ensure remote workers have access to the same opportunities as those that work in the office. 

Ask for Feedback

Transitioning to a hybrid work model requires plenty of energy and effort, but the work doesn’t end once the process finishes. You need to constantly check with your team to ensure the transition remains successful. 

See how things are going, and adjust the hybrid work strategy accordingly. You can create a pulse survey or occasionally ask them questions to understand their work experience. 

The Bottom Line

Most hybrid work statistics from surveys and studies indicate that the future of work lies in hybrid work models. Companies need to implement it to stay ahead of the game and keep their employees engaged and happy. However, transitioning to such a model is an arduous task. You can be successful if you follow a couple of tips, but you need to constantly ask for employee feedback if you want to remain that way.