Fixed hybrid working: how many days in the office does your team need?

The questions you need to answer to figure out how many days your team needs to be in the office.

At Space32 we believe the future of work for many businesses is what we call a fixed hybrid model: fixed days in the office for your entire team, and fixed days working remotely.

To implement this, you need to be clear about how many days you need. In London, we have found the sweet spot of in-office days is between 2 and 3 days a week (hence our name Space32 – pronounced three-two). But ultimately, the right answer hinges on the characteristics of your business and the working culture it needs.

The 5 key questions to ask:

1. Why do people like working for your company?

   Here it’s important to pitch culture vs flexibility. Do people work for you because of your team culture or the flexibility you offer them? If it’s all about culture, you should be closer to full-time in the office, if it’s all about flexibility, you’ll be closer to fully remote.

2. How important is collaboration in your business, and how often?

   Collaboration covers everything from planning, team meetings and creative sessions to coaching, mentoring and training. Does most of your business need to collaborate all the time (full-time in the office), or never at all (fully remote)? Or which end are you closest to?
   
   NOTE: For larger businesses, we recommend pooling your results into individual teams or divisions (usually of around 20 people).

3. What do your teams want?

   Demographics, location and commute lengths all influence the expectations of team members, so we recommend you ask their preferences if you haven’t already.
   
   Again, for larger businesses, we recommend pooling your results into individual teams or divisions.

4. How often do your clients visit your office, and when?

   Do you need your office space to be available for hosting clients? Do your client meetings require your office specifically or could you meet elsewhere?

5. What could you do with office savings?

   Reducing office days can deliver dramatic savings. What might your business do with those? One Space32 client with a team of 25 people saved £100kpa by switching to 3 days in the office. They split that 50:50 with their team, giving everyone a £2k increase in basic salaries to support the rising cost of living. The rest went to their bottom line.