Leaders want to see people on-site, but employees don’t know when and why to come in. Here’s how to make the most of your time together.
This guide covers how to make the most of your in-person time.
In-person time is essential in a hybrid model. But leaders must balance stewardship of the organization with employees’ need for flexibility.
That means intentionally defining the role of in-person collaboration and creating a program for where and why to come together.
The crux: Employees need clear guidance on how to balance remote and in-person in a hybrid world. In the 2022 Work Trend Index report , 38 percent of employees said their biggest hybrid-work challenge is knowing when and why to come into the office.
Here’s your guide to intentionally redefining what in-person time is for and making the most of in-person time together.
Make the Most of Time in the Office: Five Use Cases
Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella has said that the office is the original collaboration tool. But accommodations will always need to be made for some employees with special situations, and the workplace should always be used intentionally and specifically. These five critical “use cases” point the way.
1. Team Building and Bonding
Connections between team members effect productivity, creativity and innovation, and wellbeing. Strengthen those bonds by spending time together in the same place .
What leaders can do:
Design on-sites that are even more compelling when experienced in-person, like opportunities for professional development and in-person time with sought-after speakers.
Build in-person rituals that connect people and teams—a weekly taco lunch, an annual concert.
What managers can do:
Make sure to balance on-site planning and brainstorming with activities that build trust and encourage collaboration.
What individuals can do:
Work with your manager and collaborators to reschedule deadlines and non-urgent meetings so you can focus on connection and collaboration.
2. Re-establishing “Weak Ties”
People’s connections to “weak ties” —those contacts at the outer rings of our networks—were often lost in remote work. The office is often the best place to strengthen those kinds of relationships.
What leaders can do:
Schedule regular in-person events that include cross-org teams and departments.
Use tools like Viva Insights , which can help you identify broad collaboration patterns across the organization.
What managers can do:
Before an on-site, use one-on-one connects to help individuals develop a network plan they can use to prioritize in-person time, and to support employees who for whatever reason are unable to attend.
What individuals can do:
Build back connections with the “five more” approach: every time you make a new contact, ask them for a list of five more people you should meet.
3. Reconnecting People to Mission and Culture
The workplace is the physical embodiment of company culture—it’s particularly important for new hires to experience this firsthand.
What leaders can do:
Redesign meeting spaces to optimize the workplace for hybrid collaboration. (The 2022 Work Trend Index reported that 54 percent of leaders are currently redesigning meeting spaces for hybrid work, or plan to in the year ahead.)
What managers can do:
“Re-onboard” those new hires you brought on during the pandemic—especially remote employees or those new to the workforce—by providing small group tours and opportunities for informal connections.
Make sure all new hires have an onboarding buddy .
What individuals can do:
Reserve time to explore the office on your own and meet with on-site experts—a representative from the operations team, a company librarian—who can help you make the most of your time.
4. 1:1 Connects
Sensitive conversations can benefit from being physically together. A 2021 survey by Glint and LinkedIn Market Research showed that 48 percent of employees prefer to give or receive feedback in person.
What leaders can do:
Allow managers to personalize individual feedback systems—one employee may thrive with frequent, formal reviews while another may prefer a walking meeting or a check-in over lunch.
What managers can do:
In-person syncs are a great time to discuss career development, team dynamics, and personal wellbeing. Consider leaving laptops behind and go for a stroll or find a relaxing nook.
What individuals can do:
Make the most of your time with leaders and managers by thinking through questions and challenges you’d like to cover.
Prioritize in-person check-ins for sensitive subjects or areas that you feel require more context.
5. Brainstorming
Hybrid brainstorming is increasingly useful, but the classic free-form whiteboarding session benefits from the immediacy of being together in person.
What leaders can do:
Stage day-long sessions for the whole team to spitball about long-range goals, overlooked opportunities, and potential obstacles.
What managers can do:
Make sure your teams are skilled at staging hybrid brainstorms as well as in-person whiteboarding sessions. Encourage live attendance, but make sure that whiteboarding sessions are hybrid-optimized for those who can’t attend.
What individuals can do:
Come prepared, stay focused, and make sure other tasks and deadlines aren’t taking up mental bandwidth for the duration of this session.
Experimenting with On-site Team Time
Research shows that just 28 percent of companies have implemented agreements between managers and employees on when to come in. (To help, we open-sourced Microsoft’s approach to creating them.)
Most teams will need to experiment, and keep experimenting, to find the model that works best for the most people.
Three in-person experiments to try with your team:
Two days in the office per week, with one “team” day optimized for team bonding, and one “people” day optimized for one-on-one connections between teammates and broader networks.
A team on-site day followed by a meeting-free workday or work block. This model can help people focus their on-site time on team building, collaboration, and connection since they know they’ll be able to catch up the day after.
Several on-site days, with in-person meetings built around core hours (say, 10 to 2) so that people can avoid rush hour and schedule their workday around school pickup and other commitments.