Employee Engagement

A hybrid work model requires explicit design rather than default emergence: without intentional decisions about which days require in-office presence, how meetings are structured for mixed remote and in-person participants, and how performance is evaluated for employees in different working contexts, the model tends to recreate the worst of both worlds — the coordination overhead of in-person work without the flexibility benefit of remote. The most damaging outcome of poorly designed hybrid models is proximity bias: in-office employees gain disproportionate visibility to leadership, faster promotion consideration, and stronger relationship capital with decision-makers, disadvantaging remote employees who may be equally or more productive. Equity by design requires explicit policies that neutralize proximity advantage.