Hybrid work – How to manage the new work organization
Last updated:
25/2/2021
Hybrid work: understanding what the workforce wants
between home and the workplace. According to research from zdnet.fr, 74% of Gen Z members prefer either working from home or splitting their time between locations, with 37% favoring full-time home work. Yet the same research shows that 74% of younger workers also value spending time in an office environment. This apparent contradiction reveals the real preference: employees want choice and flexibility, not simply the right to work remotely. They want to work where the nature of the task is best served — deep focus work at home, collaborative and social work in person.
The core management challenges of hybrid work
When teams are split between office and home, the informal interactions that build trust and shared culture diminish. Corridor conversations, spontaneous collaboration over coffee, the ambient awareness of what colleagues are working on — all of these disappear in a hybrid model unless managers deliberately replace them with intentional equivalents. Effective hybrid managers create structured connection points: weekly whole-team video calls regardless of location, regular in-person anchor days for complex collaboration, and social moments that bring distributed teams together rather than leaving connection to chance.
Proximity bias — the tendency for managers to unconsciously favor employees who are physically visible — is one of the most significant and least discussed risks in hybrid environments. Research by Microsoft found that 85% of managers believe hybrid employees are less productive than their office-based colleagues, despite evidence consistently showing the opposite. Left unaddressed, proximity bias leads to remote employees being passed over for promotions, excluded from key conversations, and gradually becoming second-class team members. HR managers must build performance frameworks explicitly based on measured outcomes rather than observable presence, and train all managers to recognize and counter their own proximity bias.
Managing hybrid teams requires a shift from supervising time and presence to managing output and accountability. Managers who rely on visual supervision to assess whether their team is working either struggle in hybrid environments or resort to intrusive digital monitoring that destroys the trust hybrid work depends on. The alternative is disciplined goal-setting: clear deliverables defined in advance, measurable objectives reviewed in regular one-to-ones, and transparent criteria for evaluating contribution that apply equally to office-based and remote employees.
With recent changes in work practices, telework and hybrid work have become standard for many Belgian organizations. Implementing a hybrid policy that is both operationally effective and perceived as fair requires decisions across several dimensions. Define clearly which roles are eligible for hybrid arrangements and the criteria for eligibility. Specify minimum in-office requirements for each role type — mandatory anchor days when whole teams are present, individual flexibility days, and any roles requiring full-time on-site presence. Establish communication norms ensuring that remote employees are never disadvantaged: digital-first documentation of all decisions, video-enabled meeting facilities for hybrid meetings, and response time expectations that respect different working patterns across locations.
Technology is the operational backbone of hybrid work. Effective hybrid organizations build an integrated tool stack: video conferencing for synchronous meetings, asynchronous messaging for daily communication, project management platforms for task visibility, and HR tools for scheduling and attendance management. The key is integration — tools that connect with each other reduce the friction and duplication that make hybrid work feel more complex than it needs to be. For teams with mixed office and remote schedules, a digital scheduling platform allows managers to coordinate who is in the office on which days, manage availability across the full team in real time, and ensure adequate site coverage — all accessible from a single mobile dashboard.
Structural telework in Belgium is governed by CLA No. 149, which requires employers to provide the necessary work equipment, cover home-working costs through a recognized monthly allowance, and ensure that teleworkers have identical rights to office-based employees. Employers must establish a formal written telework policy before implementing structural hybrid arrangements and register it with the social secretariat. Occasional telework is governed by the lighter requirements of CLA No. 162. HR managers implementing hybrid policies for the first time should consult their social secretariat to ensure full compliance with both the applicable CLA and any sector-specific collective agreements.
Frequently asked questions
Two to three days per week in the office is the most common arrangement in Belgian and European organizations. What matters more than the specific number is that in-office days are coordinated across team members who need to collaborate — staggered individual office days where no two colleagues are present simultaneously defeat the purpose of in-person work and produce the worst of both worlds. Anchor days where the full team is present together are significantly more valuable than any individual arrangement.
Culture in hybrid teams is built through deliberate, consistent actions: regular in-person team days, virtual social events, clear and visible communication of company values by leadership, and managers who model the behaviors they want to see across both locations. Culture does not sustain itself automatically in a hybrid environment — it requires investment proportional to the degree of physical separation between team members, and that investment must be budgeted and planned, not assumed to happen organically.
Organizations with a mix of hybrid-eligible and on-site-only roles — common in hospitality, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing — must communicate clearly and honestly about which roles qualify for hybrid arrangements and why. Perceived unfairness in hybrid eligibility is a significant and often underestimated driver of resentment in mixed-role organizations. Published eligibility criteria applied consistently across the organization, with transparent explanations for roles that do not qualify, are essential for maintaining trust and fairness across the workforce.
GDPR applies fully to all personal data processed by employees working from home, including customer data, internal personnel data, and any information accessed through company systems on home networks. Belgian employers must ensure that home-working employees have access to adequately secured networks and devices, and that data protection training specifically covers the additional risks of working outside the controlled office environment. A written data protection procedure for home workers is a recommended component of any hybrid work policy.
Managing hybrid teams requires a shift from supervising time and presence to managing output and accountability. Managers who rely on visual supervision to assess whether their team is working either struggle in hybrid environments or resort to intrusive digital monitoring that destroys the trust hybrid work depends on. The alternative is disciplined goal-setting: clear deliverables defined in advance, measurable objectives reviewed in regular one-to-ones, and transparent criteria for evaluating contribution that apply equally to office-based and remote employees.
With recent changes in work practices, telework and hybrid work have become standard for many Belgian organizations. Implementing a hybrid policy that is both operationally effective and perceived as fair requires decisions across several dimensions. Define clearly which roles are eligible for hybrid arrangements and the criteria for eligibility. Specify minimum in-office requirements for each role type — mandatory anchor days when whole teams are present, individual flexibility days, and any roles requiring full-time on-site presence. Establish communication norms ensuring that remote employees are never disadvantaged: digital-first documentation of all decisions, video-enabled meeting facilities for hybrid meetings, and response time expectations that respect different working patterns across locations.
Technology is the operational backbone of hybrid work. Effective hybrid organizations build an integrated tool stack: video conferencing for synchronous meetings, asynchronous messaging for daily communication, project management platforms for task visibility, and HR tools for scheduling and attendance management. The key is integration — tools that connect with each other reduce the friction and duplication that make hybrid work feel more complex than it needs to be. For teams with mixed office and remote schedules, a digital scheduling platform allows managers to coordinate who is in the office on which days, manage availability across the full team in real time, and ensure adequate site coverage — all accessible from a single mobile dashboard.
Structural telework in Belgium is governed by CLA No. 149, which requires employers to provide the necessary work equipment, cover home-working costs through a recognized monthly allowance, and ensure that teleworkers have identical rights to office-based employees. Employers must establish a formal written telework policy before implementing structural hybrid arrangements and register it with the social secretariat. Occasional telework is governed by the lighter requirements of CLA No. 162. HR managers implementing hybrid policies for the first time should consult their social secretariat to ensure full compliance with both the applicable CLA and any sector-specific collective agreements.
Frequently asked questions
Two to three days per week in the office is the most common arrangement in Belgian and European organizations. What matters more than the specific number is that in-office days are coordinated across team members who need to collaborate — staggered individual office days where no two colleagues are present simultaneously defeat the purpose of in-person work and produce the worst of both worlds. Anchor days where the full team is present together are significantly more valuable than any individual arrangement.
Culture in hybrid teams is built through deliberate, consistent actions: regular in-person team days, virtual social events, clear and visible communication of company values by leadership, and managers who model the behaviors they want to see across both locations. Culture does not sustain itself automatically in a hybrid environment — it requires investment proportional to the degree of physical separation between team members, and that investment must be budgeted and planned, not assumed to happen organically.
Organizations with a mix of hybrid-eligible and on-site-only roles — common in hospitality, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing — must communicate clearly and honestly about which roles qualify for hybrid arrangements and why. Perceived unfairness in hybrid eligibility is a significant and often underestimated driver of resentment in mixed-role organizations. Published eligibility criteria applied consistently across the organization, with transparent explanations for roles that do not qualify, are essential for maintaining trust and fairness across the workforce.
GDPR applies fully to all personal data processed by employees working from home, including customer data, internal personnel data, and any information accessed through company systems on home networks. Belgian employers must ensure that home-working employees have access to adequately secured networks and devices, and that data protection training specifically covers the additional risks of working outside the controlled office environment. A written data protection procedure for home workers is a recommended component of any hybrid work policy.
Technology is the operational backbone of hybrid work. Effective hybrid organizations build an integrated tool stack: video conferencing for synchronous meetings, asynchronous messaging for daily communication, project management platforms for task visibility, and HR tools for scheduling and attendance management. The key is integration — tools that connect with each other reduce the friction and duplication that make hybrid work feel more complex than it needs to be. For teams with mixed office and remote schedules, a digital scheduling platform allows managers to coordinate who is in the office on which days, manage availability across the full team in real time, and ensure adequate site coverage — all accessible from a single mobile dashboard.
Structural telework in Belgium is governed by CLA No. 149, which requires employers to provide the necessary work equipment, cover home-working costs through a recognized monthly allowance, and ensure that teleworkers have identical rights to office-based employees. Employers must establish a formal written telework policy before implementing structural hybrid arrangements and register it with the social secretariat. Occasional telework is governed by the lighter requirements of CLA No. 162. HR managers implementing hybrid policies for the first time should consult their social secretariat to ensure full compliance with both the applicable CLA and any sector-specific collective agreements.
Frequently asked questions
Two to three days per week in the office is the most common arrangement in Belgian and European organizations. What matters more than the specific number is that in-office days are coordinated across team members who need to collaborate — staggered individual office days where no two colleagues are present simultaneously defeat the purpose of in-person work and produce the worst of both worlds. Anchor days where the full team is present together are significantly more valuable than any individual arrangement.
Culture in hybrid teams is built through deliberate, consistent actions: regular in-person team days, virtual social events, clear and visible communication of company values by leadership, and managers who model the behaviors they want to see across both locations. Culture does not sustain itself automatically in a hybrid environment — it requires investment proportional to the degree of physical separation between team members, and that investment must be budgeted and planned, not assumed to happen organically.
Organizations with a mix of hybrid-eligible and on-site-only roles — common in hospitality, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing — must communicate clearly and honestly about which roles qualify for hybrid arrangements and why. Perceived unfairness in hybrid eligibility is a significant and often underestimated driver of resentment in mixed-role organizations. Published eligibility criteria applied consistently across the organization, with transparent explanations for roles that do not qualify, are essential for maintaining trust and fairness across the workforce.
GDPR applies fully to all personal data processed by employees working from home, including customer data, internal personnel data, and any information accessed through company systems on home networks. Belgian employers must ensure that home-working employees have access to adequately secured networks and devices, and that data protection training specifically covers the additional risks of working outside the controlled office environment. A written data protection procedure for home workers is a recommended component of any hybrid work policy.
Frequently asked questions
Two to three days per week in the office is the most common arrangement in Belgian and European organizations. What matters more than the specific number is that in-office days are coordinated across team members who need to collaborate — staggered individual office days where no two colleagues are present simultaneously defeat the purpose of in-person work and produce the worst of both worlds. Anchor days where the full team is present together are significantly more valuable than any individual arrangement.
Culture in hybrid teams is built through deliberate, consistent actions: regular in-person team days, virtual social events, clear and visible communication of company values by leadership, and managers who model the behaviors they want to see across both locations. Culture does not sustain itself automatically in a hybrid environment — it requires investment proportional to the degree of physical separation between team members, and that investment must be budgeted and planned, not assumed to happen organically.
Organizations with a mix of hybrid-eligible and on-site-only roles — common in hospitality, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing — must communicate clearly and honestly about which roles qualify for hybrid arrangements and why. Perceived unfairness in hybrid eligibility is a significant and often underestimated driver of resentment in mixed-role organizations. Published eligibility criteria applied consistently across the organization, with transparent explanations for roles that do not qualify, are essential for maintaining trust and fairness across the workforce.
GDPR applies fully to all personal data processed by employees working from home, including customer data, internal personnel data, and any information accessed through company systems on home networks. Belgian employers must ensure that home-working employees have access to adequately secured networks and devices, and that data protection training specifically covers the additional risks of working outside the controlled office environment. A written data protection procedure for home workers is a recommended component of any hybrid work policy.
Organizations with a mix of hybrid-eligible and on-site-only roles — common in hospitality, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing — must communicate clearly and honestly about which roles qualify for hybrid arrangements and why. Perceived unfairness in hybrid eligibility is a significant and often underestimated driver of resentment in mixed-role organizations. Published eligibility criteria applied consistently across the organization, with transparent explanations for roles that do not qualify, are essential for maintaining trust and fairness across the workforce.
GDPR applies fully to all personal data processed by employees working from home, including customer data, internal personnel data, and any information accessed through company systems on home networks. Belgian employers must ensure that home-working employees have access to adequately secured networks and devices, and that data protection training specifically covers the additional risks of working outside the controlled office environment. A written data protection procedure for home workers is a recommended component of any hybrid work policy.
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