Working a hybrid schedule of remote and in-office work has become the norm for companies around the world. But how does this impact worker productivity?

Malcolm Smith is one of many people who work both remotely from his home in Sullivan County and in his New York City office.

“I think where I’m at for my work style, the hybrid model works really well,” Smith said.

Smith is a senior sales development manager at Databricks. Although he just moved to the company in April, he’s worked in technology since 2017. He previously commuted to Manhattan every day, but went completely virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“I have young children, and I was fortunate and blessed to have the ability to have them during the pandemic,” Smith said. “I was home pretty much all their all their life, so I couldn't imagine being away from them five days a week at this point.”

In his current role, Smith now goes to the city one day each week to work in the office.

“There are a lot of things you'll do differently in person than you'll do sort of remote,” Smith said. “We have absolutely noticed a difference between people who came from five days in office versus who never worked in an office before. I think it's going to have some significant impact on their ability to collaborate in person because there's like social cues you miss out on.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows fluctuating data involving labor productivity since 2021, when hybrid models became more common. After a 1.2% decline in productivity from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023, there’s been a 3.7% increase in the second quarter of 2023.

The number of hours worked has decreased in the second quarter of 2023 for the first time since 2020.

From a management standpoint, Cheryl Bowers, CEO and president of Rondout Savings Bank, said they have employees working 100% from home, 100% in the office and hybrid, varying depending on their role.

“I’ve seen nothing but positive results in the productivity uptick, so there seems to be a real good balance for the individuals that have been doing the hybrid model of what they should be doing when they're in the office and what they should be doing at home,” Bowers said.

She’s been with the company for 22 years and has seen it evolve with the times in terms of technology and flexible work locations.

“It has to be dynamic. It has to change with the need of the customer, the need of the employee, the need of the business. For us, anyway, it has to be an ever-changing model, and communication is always the best thing in an organization or the worst thing or/and the worst thing. So, communication becomes that much more important, especially in a hybrid model,” Bowers said.

Both Smith and Bowers believe the models for their companies work and will remain this way for the foreseeable future.

There is also pushback to working remote. Some major companies, including Disney, Amazon, and even Zoom, which makes video conferencing software, have asked their employees to return to the office on a regular or hybrid basis.

A 2022 study from Owl Lab shows the number of workers choosing to work remotely went up by 24% from 2021. Those who prefer to work hybrid increased by 16%. In-office work interest declined by 24%.