I predict that the idea of hybrid work will expand from the rigid definition of “being in-person at a company office two days a week”. My research suggests that teams are innovating on both where to meet and when to meet. The downtown office building will be only one of the spaces where teams can meet for in-person work. My research suggests that work-from-anywhere (WFA) teams are meeting at a multiplicity of places including at company offsites, suburban locations and around trade conferences. In addition to being flexible on where to meet, teams are also experimenting on how frequently they should meet for optimum outcomes. Many of the teams I study have developed a ritual of being in-person together for a few days once a month or even once a quarter. My longstanding research, has documented how even brief periods of being in-person together help individuals innovate, especially when they meet team members from different time-zones or different cultures. Long before the pandemic, I had documented that the timing of travel and being in-person is also important: it really helps to be in-person with senior leaders who allocate budget immediately prior to budget allocation meetings. In sum, moving from a rigid version of hybrid (two or three days every week in a downtown office) to more flexible forms of hybrid (meet at offsite/suburbs/client conferences, monthly or quarterly) will help individuals work-from-anywhere, companies hire-from-anywhere and will further the proliferation of all-remote firms.
