What Is a Hybrid Work Schedule and How It Can Benefit You and Your Family

Unlock Work-Life Harmony: Embrace Hybrid Work Schedules for More Family Time and Greater Productivity.

“A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”

This famous quote from The Godfather, of course, refers to a mafia family, but it easily resonates with the 9-to-5 workers—both men and women—who feel they spend more time at work than at home.

How can you spend time with your family while managing your business? (And just to clarify, we're talking about legitimate business here).

Enter the hybrid work schedule.

A hybrid work schedule is not an option for all, let’s get that out of the way up front, but for many it can be the solution to spending enough time with your family.

This type of schedule is great for parents coming back into the workforce after being home raising children.  If you’re one of those people, this article offers some great tips on Re-Entering The Workforce as a Stay-At-Home Parent.

Before we go any further, here’s the actionable takeaways you can get from this article:

Actionable takeaways you’ll get from this article

•   What is a Hybrid Work Schedule and How It Can Benefit You and Your Family

•   Why Employees and Employers Choose Hybrid Work Schedules

Now that you know what you’re going to be getting out of his, let’s jump in.

What is A Hybrid Work Schedule?

A hybrid work schedule combines remote and office-based work, offering flexibility and collaboration. Professionals have the freedom to work from home on certain days and attend the office on others, fostering a balanced work-life dynamic.

Why Hybrid Work Schedules appeal to employees and employers:

According to statistics from Forbes, here are the hybrid work schedule trends for 2023:

•   28.3% of full-time employees have hybrid work schedules.

•   98A% of employees want to work remotely part of the work week

•   93% of employers plan to conduct job interviews remotely

•   6% of companies are fully remote

Five Examples of a Hybrid Work Schedules

Three days in the office, two days remote

The three office days two remote days is a popular version of the hybrid work schedule.

Why?

In 2020, when the pandemic hit, most non-essential jobs were fully remote.  As the years passed and we moved further away from the heart of the pandemic, employers wanted to see their employees in the office once again.

Then came three in two out.

Why It’s Good for Employees

1.  Let’s face it, being able to work remotely for 2 days is better than working from home zero.

2. If you choose to work remote Monday and Friday, you’ll get to stay out of an office for 4 straight days.

3. Avoids the hassle of commuting into work on a Monday morning and the Friday afternoon rush home.

Why It’s GOOD For Employeers

1. You’ll get to have your employees in the office 60% of the work week.

2. You can have teams scheduled meetings, collaborations and other events during the middle of the week and ensure in-person attendance.

3. Letting employees work remotely twice a week shows consideration for work-life balance.

This method was also commonly used prior to the pandemic, so it’s a familiar work-stylefor many employees and employers.

Alternating weeks between office and remote work

This type of hybrid model gives employees and employers some consistency for how they spend their time.  Employees are able to have an entire week to tend to personal time while they’re home and employers know that they’ll be able to get face time with their employees the following week.

In the years following the pandemic, companies like KPMG LLP heavily encouraged (but not forced) employees to come in on every other week type schedule.

 Morning hours in the office, afternoon hours remote

This hybrid work schedule can really appeal to the parents who have to pick their kids up from school or attend after school events.

If you’re someone who coach’s your child’s sports team this is crucial because 99% of the time,0020practices are scheduled for after school.

It also allows you to make sure you can meet with your team first thing in the morning in-person, so they can get an idea of what your day will look like, when you’ll be working and how you’ll be working.  It also helps all employees (whether you’re a parent or not) avoid rush hour traffic.

Office presence required for meetings and collaborations; remote for individual work

This frustrating things for employees who don’t want to be mandated to go into the office is to go into the office and then work independently…all day.

Putting the focus on using the office for meetings and other types of events makes the employee feel like they are getting a bang for their buck when they have to spend an hour on the train commuting in.

Flexible schedule with core hours in the office and remaining hours remote

This hybrid work schedule is more employer friendly, as they get to have more in-person time with their employees.  The “core hours” will be defined as the company decides, but needless to say, most of the time will be spent in the office.

How Hybrid Work Schedule advantages for family time

1.   Flexibility to manage childcare and family responsibilities

2.  Reduced commute time allows for more quality time with children

•    Opportunity for a better work-life balance

•    Ability to attend school events or appointments without taking time off

•    Enhanced productivity by eliminating distractions often found in office environments

If you’re looking for some ideas for jobs that may allow you to have hybrid work schedules, take a quick minute to read 12 Flexible Jobs For Parents.  If you’re not a parent, you can still get some good ideas of careers that will allow you some flexibility.

Strategies for negotiating a hybrid work arrangement

In many cases, hybrid work schedules are determined by companies and input isn’t solicited from the employees; however, if you’re in a situation where work schedules are determined by your manager, this can be a case where you may have some control.

It’s a good idea to prepare a pitch before you meet with your manager and not just go in winging it.  With that being said, here’s a few points to include to convince your manager that a hybrid work schedule is right for you:

1.  Emphasize that working remotely during your day will not cause a drop in productivity.  Bonus points for using data and statistics to show how it will increase.

2. Give examples of the type of projects and work you’ll do while you’re working remotely and not in the offer.

3. Show how you’ll make your time in the office more meaningful to your team.

Depending on the relationship you have with your manager, you can decide on whether or not to pull the family and work-life balance card, but keep in mind that doesn’t necessarily add value to the company so it might not be helpful to your business case.

Also keep in mind it may be better to pitch less days remotely to start rather than going from being in the office 5 days a week to once a week or once every other week.  It’s much easier to gradually adjust your schedule than asking for the whole thing at once.

It’s all about having open communication with your manager and your team.  If you are able to communicate exactly what you want, how you will continue to add value and how everyone will benefit, you’ll be on the way to having the schedule that you want.

Once you do establish the hybrid schedule that works for you and your manager, it’s a great idea to have continuous check-ins to make sure the current situation is good for you, your manager and your team as a whole.

What to do next after reading this article

Now that you know all you need to know about hybrid work schedules, it’s time to think about a few important things:

•  Do you prefer working in the office or remotely, and how often do you like to be in each environment?

•  Is your current job somewhere that will let you have this type of schedule?  If not, you might want to rethink your current job and maybe even career path.  A great resource to help you do this is How to Find a Job That Makes You Happy.

•  If you like where you’re at, can you have a conversation with your manager on how to make your schedule fit your lifestyle.  If you need help on how to prepare for this conversation, you can reach out to a Career Coach at Your Career Strategy and they will be happy to help.

Remember, in today’s world, it’s very difficult to separate your work life from your personal life.  The best way to handle it is to find a healthy way to integrate the two.  A hybrid work schedule can help you do that, by providing a healthy balance between your time at work and your time at home.