Management Practice Insights
DOI: 10.59571/mpi.v3i2.8
Year: 2025, Volume: 3, Issue: 2, Pages: 1-11
Original Article
Snehal Shahi*, Vineeta Dwivediii
i,ii S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research
* Corresponding author: [email protected]
Received Date:29 May 2025, Accepted Date:28 October 2025, Published Date:29 October 2025
Organisations globally are grappling with the search for an optimal approach to hybrid work. The shift towards remote work during the pandemic demonstrated both the possibilities and the challenges of a hybrid work arrangement. As companies navigate the “new normal,” some questions loom large in the minds of HR executives and business leaders: To what extent should hybrid work be embraced, and what approach will lead to success? Will productivity suffer? Our essay provides an evidence-based perspective to address these concerns, along with an approach to designing and implementing a robust, hybrid work-from-home (WFH) policy.
A recent study published in Nature by Nicholas Bloom, Ruobing Han and James Liang (2024)1 provides valuable insights into the impact of hybrid work. The study suggests that well-implemented hybrid policies can significantly improve employee retention without negatively affecting performance levels. It highlights the importance of flexibility in enhancing employee satisfaction, ultimately reducing turnover. This article sifts through accumulating evidence todecode the hybrid nature of work and propose a pathway to policy making referred to as the PFE (Pilot, Focus and Educate) framework, keeping in mind some boundary conditions that influence decision making. “The business case for hybrid: 69% of the Fortune 500 are hybrid WFH for managers and professionals.” Nicholas Bloom 2
1 Nicholas Bloom et al., “Hybrid Working from Home Improves Retention without Damaging Performance,” Nature 630, no. 8018 (2024): 920–25, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07500-2.
2 Nick Bloom, “The Business Case for Hybrid,” LinkedIn, May 2025, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nick-bloom-stanford_the-business-case-for-hybrid-69-of-the-activity-7330946943789027331-ies8/.
3 Rob Sadow, Flex Report - Q4 2024 (Flex Index, 2025), 21, https://www.canva.com/design/DAGXmAgpbxM/6f8VQt9saIcgC2CeJ8Dl5Q/view.
4 Global Workplace Analytics, Hybrid Work Costs and Benefits, December 18, 2013, https://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/resources/costs-benefits.
5Keynote - 2025 HBR Leadership Summit, directed by Harvard Business Review, performed by Andy Jassy (HBR, 2025), 29:38, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl-PpoKtxc4.
6George Fitzmaurice, “Eric Schmidt Admits Remote Work Has Productivity Benefits, but He Still Wants Staff in the Office,” IT Pro, November 14, 2024, https://www.itpro.com/business/careers-and-training/eric-schmidt-admits-remote-work-has-productivity-benefits-but-he-still-wants-staff-in-the-office.
7 Rob Thubron, “IT Firm’s RTO Ultimatum: Get Back in the Office or Lose Your Vacation Days,” TechSpot, July 22, 2024, https://www.techspot.com/news/103917-indian-firm-tro-policy-get-back-office-or.html.
8 ET Online, “Wipro Makes It Mandatory to Work Three-Days from Office: Here’s What Co’s HR Head Said on New Hybrid Work Policy,” The Economic Times, n.d., accessed October 27, 2025, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/hr-policies-trends/wipro-makes-it-mandatory-to-work-three-days-from-office-heres-what-cos-hr-head-said-on-new-hybrid-work-policy/articleshow/114232582.cms.
9 Deeksha Somani, “Amazon, X, Apple, Google, and Other Major Companies Calling Employees Back to the Office; Check out the List,” Technology, The Times of India, September 19, 2024, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/amazon-x-apple-google-meta-band-other-major-companies-calling-employees-back-to-the-office-check-out-the-list/articleshow/113491851.cms.
10Kastle Systems, Data Assisting in Return to Office Plans, Getting America Back To Work (Kastle Systems, 2022), https://www.kastle.com/safety-wellness/getting-america-back-to-work/.
11 Polly Thomson, “Big Four Firms Keeping Hybrid Work: EY, Deloitte, PwC, KPMG,” Entrepreneur, February 14, 2025, https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/big-four-firms-keeping-hybrid-work-ey-deloitte-pwc-kpmg/487125 ; McKinsey & Co, Inc., How Hybrid Work Has Changed Society (McKinsey Global Institute, 2023), 88, https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/empty-spaces-and-hybrid-places-chapter-1; Deborah Lovich and Rosie Sargeant, Making Flexible Working Models Work (BCG, 2023), 10, https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/flexible-working-models.
12 Rajani Kumar et al., “THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGIES ON WORK-LIFE BALANCE,” ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts 5, no. 1 (2024): 2242–52, https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i1.2024.5123.
13 Katie Wilde and Juan Pablo Buriticá, “Remote Work Benefits,” in The Holloway Guide to Remote Work (Holloway, 2025), https://www.holloway.com/g/remote-work/sections/remote-work-benefits.
14 Bloom et al., “Hybrid Working from Home Improves Retention without Damaging Performance.”
15 Gitlab, “The Remote Playbook,” 2023, https://learn.gitlab.com/allremote/remote-playbook.
16 Richard August et al., “To the Future of Work from Anywhere,” Corporate White Paper, Point of View, September 8, 2022, https://perspectives.tcs.com/content/dam/tcs/pdf/perspectives/workplace-evolution-hybrid-remote-working-model.pdf.
17 Samriddhi Srivastava, “Six Jobs, One Man — Soham Parekh and the Remote Work Scam That Shook Tech,” People Matters, July 4, 2025, https://www.peoplematters.in/news/business/six-jobs-one-man-soham-parekh-and-the-remote-work-scam-that-shook-tech-46217.
18 Edgar H Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, vol. 2 (John Wiley & Sons, 2010).
19 Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury et al., “Work-from-Anywhere: The Productivity Effects of Geographic Flexibility,” Strategic Management Journal 42, no. 4 (2021): 655–83, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3251.
20 Raj Choudhury, Navigating the Hybrid Work Dilemma, episode 1020, Ideacast, April 1, 2025, 29:38, https://hbr.org/podcast/2025/04/navigating-the-hybrid-work-dilemma.
21 Susan Wasmund and Jess Ultreras, 2024-2025 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights (2024), https://www.cbre.com/insights/reports/2024-2025-global-workplace-and-occupancy-insights.
© 2025 Published by SPJIMR. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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