Choose your fighter: WFH, five days in the office, a hybrid of both or working remotely from a beach in Bali. It all depends on where you do your best work, but the point of flexible work is that you get to decide for yourself.

For many of us, long gone are the days when remote working was the default – a time when WFH wasn’t just encouraged but was also the safest option. Ever since the world emerged from its pandemic-induced lockdowns, workers have been steadily returning to the office – and not always by their own choice.

UK employers including Manchester United and Goldman Sachs have made headlines and received criticism for their aggressive crackdowns on flexible work, requiring their employees to work from the office five days a week. But because employees want flexibility when it comes to their work life, it makes sense that return-to-office (RTO) mandates are deeply unpopular. And that’s why the newest work trend is going viral: with nearly 60 million posts on TikTok, say hello to ‘hushed hybrid’.

Hushed hybrid describes managers who are allowing their workers to continue working from home, despite a return to office company policy.

Although hushed hybrid has been happening ever since employers started mandating their workforce to sit in the office every day following the fully remote working policies during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s become much more common lately for bosses to keep their team’s hybrid working hush-hush. Part rebellious, part common sense, hushed hybrid is not niche – research shows 70% of UK managers are practising it, despite C-suite, senior leadership or HR insisting on in-office work.

So why are workers bending the rules when it comes to flexible working, with bosses managing through stealth?

“Managers understand that their teams need to work in ways that suit their lifestyles, but this isn’t always aligned with the strategies being implemented from the top,” Molly Johnson-Jones, CEO and co-founder of flexible careers platform Flexa, tells Stylist. “This misalignment is leading managers to bypass RTO mandates, allowing some employees to benefit from more flexible working options while others across the business do not have the same opportunity.”

Hushed hybrid is more than an unspoken rebellion against the establishment – it’s an acknowledgement that working only from the office doesn’t work. Flexible work leads to higher employee morale, boosts productivity and creates better business outcomes. And at a time of endemic burnout, managers themselves aren’t willing to enforce strict company policies they disagree with and risk losing their direct reports altogether.

A new study in Nature found that hybrid working resulted in better outcomes than full-time office work: employees working two days at home per week had 30% lower quit rates and increased job satisfaction. Meanwhile, there were no consequences on productivity or job performance. Although the randomised controlled trial of more than 1,500 employees did not study fully remote workers, the evidence strongly suggests that hybrid working is more effective than working full-time in the office.

And for working women in particular, working with flexibility can be a game changer. 

“Flexible work helps empower women to balance their professional and personal responsibilities, supporting career ambitions while managing outside commitments,” says Johnson-Jones.

Research from McKinsey found that 38% of mothers with young children would have had to leave their jobs or reduce their working hours without workplace flexibility. The TUC’s research found that 1.46 million women are kept out of the labour market because of their caring responsibilities and women are seven times more likely than men to be out of the labour market. Worse still, women’s earnings never fully recover – known as the motherhood penalty, it’s a large driver of the gender pay gap.

“Flexible working isn’t just for mothers, however,” says Johnson-Jones. “Men also increasingly seek flexible options, which helps normalise these practices and supports gender equality. By making flexible work the norm for everyone, it means better career growth and work-life balance for all employees.”

With employees and data making it clear that flexible and hybrid work are better for both the business and its people, resorting to a hushed hybrid model is proof that the world of work still needs some adjusting.

So how can employers and leaders address hushed hybrid to avoid a scenario where there are different rules for certain teams or individuals within an organisation? Johnson-Jones shares her advice.

Be clear

Companies need to be upfront about their flexible working policies and clearly explain them to their employees. It’s important for staff to know not just how many days they need to be in the office, but also why the policy is in place. This way, prospective employees can see if the company matches what they’re looking for from the start and decide for themselves if it’s an employer that is aligned with their ways of working.

Talk to your teams

Before implementing a forced return-to-office rule, employers should talk to their employees at every level to understand their needs and how they work best. This helps create a policy that works for everyone and keeps employees engaged.

Flex your flexibility

Recent data by Flexa found that flexible working is a top demand of jobseekers in 2024, with a growing preference for a mix of remote and in-person work. Leaders should pay attention to these trends and find ways to offer flexible options like working from anywhere, four (or four-and-a-half) day weeks and offset hours. Ignoring what your employees need will only result in a more disengaged workforce.

Images: Adobe