By Contributor,Julia Korn

Copyright forbes

Business people attending a hybrid meeting with some people in a conference room and others attending via video conferencing on a large screen.

Some days you’re at home, laptop open longer than usual because your desk is just steps away. Other days, you’re in the office, wrapping up at a set time and letting your commute mark the shift into your evening. Some mornings it might even take you a few minutes to remember whether you’ll have to put on real pants that day.

Hybrid schedules can blur the lines between work and home. Different rhythms each day make it easy for boundaries to slip—and it can feel like you’re living two different lives. With more than half of remote-capable workers now hybrid, this challenge is hardly unique.

But done right, hybrid can be the best of both worlds.

The Pitfalls of Hybrid

Hybrid work isn’t always simple. Here are some downsides:

The lack of structure can impede efficiency. Some teams set anchor days, and others leave it up to employees. Neither approach is foolproof, but employees who set their own schedules are more likely to struggle with fatigue and work-life balance.

Proximity bias is real. Leaders notice who’s in the office. In fact, 96% admit they pay closer attention to employees they see in person. The early arrivers, late stayers and always-online workers will get noticed more, whether it’s fair or not.

Personal and professional boundaries can get blurred. On days when your office is your kitchen counter, unplugging feels impossible. Worse: 72% of hybrid and remote workers say they’re less likely to unplug completely when they take a sick day. This always-online culture isn’t sustainable.

These risks are real, but avoidable.

Strategies for Success

Hybrid works best with intentional structure. Here’s how to not only survive, but thrive:

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Set anchor days.

Decide when you’ll be in the office, and determine what work belongs there—like meetings or collaborative tasks. Coordinate these days with your colleagues. Teams that plan hybrid collaboration are more engaged and less burned out.

Create boundary rituals.

On days without a commute, build your own start-and-stop cues. Make coffee and put on your blue light glasses to start your work day, and turn on some music and put on comfy clothes to end it. The activity doesn’t matter—but the signal does.

Over-communicate your availability and preferences.

Unclear expectations are a top challenge in remote and hybrid roles. Tell your manager when you’ll be online, block off your offline hours on your calendar and actually log off when you’re done for the day. Letting your team know what to expect helps everyone.

Boost your visibility.

Recognition matters, but it’s harder from a distance. Here are a few ways to make yourself more visible:

Align with your manager. Ask how and how often they’d like to be updated, and follow through.

Share your progress proactively. A quick weekly email with updates on ongoing projects goes a long way.

Speak up in meetings. Even short comments or questions signal engagement and presence.

Document your impact. Note wins and major contributions to important projects. Don’t assume they’ll be noticed automatically.

Be intentional, but don’t overextend yourself. Visibility when working hybrid isn’t about being “always on.” It’s about being a consistent presence.

Leadership’s Role

Managers can make or break a hybrid work structure. In any work environment, these leaders determine 70% of the variance in team engagement—but few are trained to lead a hybrid team.

If you’re managing, start here:

Build trust.

Only half of managers say they trust remote workers to be productive from afar—and just 57% of employees feel trusted. Close the gap with consistent communication, clear performance targets, development opportunities and community building—it’s worth it.

Set fair expectations.

Just because people can be reached anytime doesn’t mean they should be. Clarify that off-hours are off-hours, and don’t mistake saved commute time as “extra capacity.” If you need to email after-hours, consider putting a footer in your email like “I’m emailing at this time because it’s convenient for me; please only respond when it’s convenient for you.”

Ensure equity in development opportunities and project access.

Lack of growth opportunities is a top reason employees leave jobs. Publicize them openly, assign new projects fairly and keep remote-heavy employees top of mind.

Talk about hybrid.

Only 22% of hybrid workers regularly discuss how it’s working for them. Make space in meetings, even just once a month, to ask what’s working and what isn’t, then listen and adjust. These conversations translate to better collaboration and engagement.

Hybrid leadership isn’t easy, but with a few simple steps, you can create a high-functioning team that benefits from the flexibility of a hybrid schedule.

Hybrid doesn’t have to mean chaos—unless you let it. With structure, boundaries and trust, it can truly become a flexible, dynamic working environment.

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