Hybrid working survey questions

What this survey is for

A hybrid survey answers practical questions: does the current pattern work, what are people actually coming in for, what does the office need to provide, and is anyone disadvantaged by where they work. It is not a referendum on policy. If the pattern is set, say so and ask how to make it work; asking an open question about preference and then ignoring the answer is worse than not asking.

The most important finding is usually proximity bias: whether people who are in less often get fewer opportunities, less feedback and worse reviews. That question belongs in this survey because it is measurable and fixable.

The core question set

Keep the first three structured, so you can model demand on the building.

Pattern and purpose

• How many days did you work in a workplace in a typical week last month? 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
• How many would suit your work best? 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
• What do you mainly come in for? Select all that apply: collaboration with my team, meetings with other teams, client or customer contact, equipment or systems only available on site, training or supervision, focused work, social contact, required attendance.

Does it work

• I can do focused work well wherever I am.
• I can collaborate with my team under the current pattern.
• The days I am asked to attend are the days my work needs.
• Meetings including remote participants are run well.
• I have the equipment I need in both places.
• The workspace available to me on site suits the work I do there.

Fairness

• Where I work does not affect the opportunities I am offered.
• I get the same quality of feedback as colleagues who attend more often.
• My manager judges my work on output rather than on visibility.
• Informal information reaches me even when I am not in.
• Our hybrid arrangements are applied consistently across my team.

Open question

• What one change would make the current arrangement work better? Optional, free text.

Response scale and scoring

Use the five-point agreement scale for the statements and keep the first three questions as structured counts, because they are the ones facilities and property decisions need.

Report attendance demand as a distribution by day of week, not an average, since the average never matches a Tuesday. Cross the fairness block with actual attendance: if people attending one day a week report materially worse feedback and opportunities than those attending four, you have a management problem to fix rather than a policy to tighten. Report by team as well as by role, because hybrid works at the level of a team's rhythm.

Adjust it for your sector

Most of this set applies only to roles with a genuine choice about location. For frontline and site-based roles, replace the pattern questions with the ones below rather than asking a kitchen porter how many days they would like to work from home.

Professional services

Add "Client site days are counted in my working pattern" and "Junior colleagues get enough supervision time in person", since apprenticeship by proximity is the real hybrid risk in professional services firms.

Construction and property

Ask only the office and pre-construction population about pattern. For site teams, replace it with "The site accommodation and welfare facilities support my working day" and "Travel between sites is accounted for in my hours".

Technology

Add "Our documentation is good enough to work asynchronously" and "Time zones across my team are handled fairly". Written practice matters more than attendance here, so ask about it directly.

Banking

Add "I can meet my control and supervision requirements under my current pattern" and "Trading or client-facing attendance requirements are clear". Where regulation sets attendance, state that in the introduction rather than inviting preferences you cannot meet.

Healthcare

Ask clinical staff only the fairness block, with pattern questions limited to administrative and corporate roles. Add "Remote consultations are supported by the equipment and space I have" for relevant services.

Energy

Limit pattern questions to corporate and engineering office roles. For rotational staff, add "My rotation gives me enough recovery time at home" and "Keeping in touch during rotation works well".

Media and agencies

Add "Our studio days produce the creative collaboration they are meant to" and "Remote participants can contribute in reviews and pitches". Attendance here is often justified by creative collaboration, so test whether it delivers.

Public sector

Add "Our attendance expectations are applied consistently across teams" and "Public-facing commitments are covered fairly". Note where statutory or counter service requirements set attendance, and report by grade band.

Education

Pattern questions apply only to professional and administrative staff. For teaching staff, add "I have somewhere suitable to do planning and marking on site" and "Remote working for non-contact time is treated consistently".

Universities

Add "I can access the labs, library or specialist space my work needs" and "Hybrid arrangements are applied consistently across departments". Ask academic, research and professional services staff separately, since each has a different legitimate pattern.

Hospitality

Skip the pattern block. Ask "My rota is published far enough ahead", "Shift swaps are handled fairly" and the fairness block about opportunities and feedback, which apply regardless of location.

Retail

Skip the pattern block for store staff and run it for support centre roles. For stores, add "Hours and shifts are allocated fairly" and "I hear about company news and opportunities in good time".

Manufacturing

Pattern questions apply to office and planning roles only. For production staff, add "Shift and overtime allocation is fair" and keep the fairness block, which is where frontline staff most often report being overlooked.

Anonymity, consent and small teams

Attendance data is easy to match to an individual, especially combined with team and role, so keep the demographics coarse and set a reporting threshold of at least five. Do not join survey responses to building access records; if you want occupancy data, collect it separately and say so.

Avoid asking about home circumstances, caring responsibilities or health reasons for a preferred pattern. Those answers are either special category data or close to it, and the proper route is an individual flexible working or adjustment conversation, not a survey. Signpost that route in the introduction.

From results to action

Use the pattern and purpose answers for two decisions: which days teams anchor together, and what the workplace needs to provide on those days. A team that comes in mainly for collaboration needs rooms and whiteboards, not rows of desks; a team coming in for equipment needs the equipment working.

Treat the fairness results as management work. Where feedback and opportunity scores differ by attendance, the fix is explicit practice: written objectives, scheduled one-to-ones regardless of location, opportunities advertised rather than offered in the corridor, and reviews judged on recorded evidence. That is the connection to performance management, and it is the part a policy document cannot do for you. Record the agreed changes, then re-ask in six months.

Frequently asked questions

Should we ask people what pattern they would prefer?

Only if preference can influence the outcome. If the pattern is fixed, say that plainly and ask instead how to make the required days worthwhile and the arrangement fair. Collecting preferences you have already decided to overrule generates visible evidence that you asked and ignored the answer.

How do we survey frontline staff who cannot work remotely?

Drop the pattern questions and keep the fairness block, reworded for shift work: predictability of the rota, fairness of hours and shift allocation, access to information and opportunities. Those are the equivalent concerns, and asking frontline staff about home working is the quickest way to make a survey feel irrelevant.

What should we do about proximity bias?

Measure it, then fix the practice rather than the pattern. Compare feedback quality, development opportunities and review outcomes by attendance level. Where a gap exists, require written objectives and scheduled one-to-ones for everyone, make opportunities visible, and check calibration for a pattern by location.

About New Dynamics

New Dynamics is a Bristol-based performance management business. Proximity bias is a performance management problem before it is a property one: it shows up in who gets feedback and whose work is visible at review time. Book a demo to see how the record is kept.