Why Belonging Matters in Hybrid Workplaces

For years, organizations could confuse physical proximity with connection. Employees saw one another in hallways, gathered before meetings and absorbed informal information simply by being nearby. Hybrid and distributed work have made it much harder to assume those experiences will happen naturally.

That matters because hybrid work remains a durable part of the workplace. Gallup’s 2026 tracking shows that 52% of U.S. employees in remote-capable jobs work in hybrid arrangements, while 26% work exclusively remotely.

Members of the Senior Executive HR Think Tank say the answer is not to recreate the office online. Instead, managers must deliberately build belonging into how they communicate, distribute opportunities, recognize contributions and design the work itself.

“The office never built belonging. It hid whether leadership was building it.”

– Christopher Bylone, Principal Strategist at Innovation Unbiased

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Stop Confusing Proximity With Leadership

Christopher Bylone, Principal Strategist at Innovation Unbiased, has led global belonging strategies and built cultures through inclusive policies, employee resource groups and people-centered initiatives. His consultancy helps organizations create measurable employee experience strategies that connect culture with business goals.

Bylone challenges one of the most persistent assumptions about hybrid work: that the office itself once created belonging.

“The office never built belonging. It hid whether leadership was building it.”

In his view, physical proximity created enough interaction—“hallway hellos, lunch tables, sense of being surrounded”—that organizations did not always have to examine whether employees genuinely felt that they mattered.

Hybrid work simply exposed the difference between managers who intentionally created connection and those who depended on the environment to create it for them.

“The ones whose teams knew they belonged in 2019 still have teams who know it now, across three time zones.”

The difference, Bylone says, is not primarily about policy, technology or location. It is a leadership capability that organizations often failed to identify and develop.

Managers who depend on rituals and meeting cadences alone may be treating symptoms rather than addressing the underlying issue. “Rituals and cadences” can compensate for leaders who were never taught to create belonging intentionally, he says.

“Write the capability into how you select, develop and promote managers, and the location question mostly resolves itself.”

That shifts the responsibility from designing the perfect hybrid schedule to building managers who know how to make people feel valued regardless of where they work.

Additional research from Gallup reinforces that distinction. Its findings suggest that success in hybrid and remote work depends less on location itself than on management quality, clear expectations and intentional team design.

“Virtual meetings are necessary, but they are a bandage for real human interaction, not a replacement for it.”

– JK Dickinson, CEO, Founder and originator of The Invisible Anatomy at JK Dickinson & Associates

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Connection Requires More Than Performance

That leadership capability also requires managers to recognize that productivity and experiencing a sense of belonging in a hybrid work environment are not interchangeable.

JK Dickinson, CEO, Founder and originator of The Invisible Anatomy at JK Dickinson & Associates, works with senior executives and organizations on leadership, human behavior, wellness and personal development. Her multidisciplinary organization brings together strategic leadership executives and medical professionals to support leaders navigating performance, change and growth.

“There is no simple fix for creating belonging in hybrid and distributed workplaces,” Dickinson says.

Remote work can bring “isolation, blurred boundaries, reduced professional identity and a gradual disconnect from the organization,” she notes. That means managers cannot assume that strong performance signals a strong sense of connection.

“Leaders should not mistake performance for connection.”

Employees may be delivering excellent work while privately feeling detached from their colleagues and organization. Dickinson says virtual meetings are necessary but should not be mistaken for a complete substitute for human connection.

“Virtual meetings are necessary, but they are a bandage for real human interaction, not a replacement for it.”

Belonging therefore requires organizational discipline, not just individual goodwill. Dickinson recommends a structured approach that begins with senior leadership and is carried through managers and other accountable leaders.

“It is leadership’s responsibility to ensure employees actually feel connected—not simply assume they do.”

That responsibility becomes particularly important in distributed environments, where signs of isolation may be easier to miss.

“Managers operationalize belonging by creating intentional connections, ensuring equal access to opportunities and measuring outcomes rather than visibility.”

– Gigi Garcia, Founder and CEO of HR Couch

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Make People Feel Seen, Heard and Valued

While organizational systems matter, belonging is ultimately experienced through everyday interactions.

Gigi Garcia, Founder and CEO of HR Couch, is an experienced HR executive, consultant and people strategist specializing in organizational development, employee relations, leadership coaching, change management and HR technology. Her firm helps organizations build healthier workplaces through people-first consulting and leadership development.

Garcia puts the distinction between belonging and proximity simply:

“Belonging doesn’t happen because employees work in the same building.”

Instead, it happens when people feel “seen, heard, and valued.”

That requires managers to create intentional connections rather than waiting for relationships to develop organically. It also requires equal access to opportunities regardless of where employees perform their work.

“Managers operationalize belonging by creating intentional connections, ensuring equal access to opportunities and measuring outcomes rather than visibility.”

That final distinction is especially important in hybrid environments. If physical presence becomes a shortcut for judging commitment, contribution or potential, employees working remotely can quickly become less visible in ways that affect careers.

Garcia offers a useful test for leaders:

“If employees have to be physically present to feel included, it’s not belonging. It’s proximity.”

The goal is not to make every employee have the same work experience. It is to ensure location does not determine whether someone has access to relationships, recognition or opportunity.

Treat Connection as Part of the Job

Intentionality also sits at the center of David Grossman’s approach. As Founder and CEO of The Grossman Group, he is a leadership and change communication expert who advises C-suite leaders and organizations. His firm helps organizations strengthen internal communication, change management, strategy activation, leadership development and culture transformation.

“Our research with The Harris Poll backs this up,” Grossman says. “Feeling genuinely seen is one of the biggest gaps employees report with their leaders today, and distance makes it worse.”

In-office environments once created opportunities for spontaneous interaction before meetings and in hallways. Hybrid work has reduced many of those moments, which means managers must create connection with greater purpose.

“Hybrid work took that away, so managers need to be intentional about creating it.”

Grossman recommends starting with one-on-ones. Managers should ask employees how they are doing before moving directly into work and give their answers genuine attention.

“Recognize people where the whole team can see it. If someone’s gone quiet on calls, check in with them privately.”

He also warns managers about proximity bias. It can be easy to give the most interesting assignments to the people seen most frequently in the office.

Gallup identifies management quality as a major factor in hybrid success and notes that clear communication, equal development opportunities and intentional team practices help address the challenges of distributed work.

“This requires managers to see connection as real work, and to give it the same discipline they give everything else on their plate.”

Build Belonging Into the Operating System

For Maureen Metcalf, CEO and Founder of the Innovative Leadership Institute, belonging cannot depend exclusively on interpersonal chemistry.

“Belonging is a feeling you generate as a byproduct of structure,” she says.

Metcalf advises boards, CEOs and executive teams on leading through complexity. Her organization works at the intersection of strategy and culture, helping leaders translate executive vision into measurable performance through leadership diagnostics, culture transformation and AI-ready leadership development.

The common mistake in distributed work, she says, is trying to replicate proximity with more meetings and optional social events.

“Distributed teams fail at belonging when managers try to replicate proximity—more calls, more optional socials.”

What employees often notice instead is whether their contributions are visible and consequential. Metcalf recommends three structural changes.

First, make information symmetric.

“When decisions get made in hallways and hybrid calls, remote members correctly conclude they are peripheral. Write decisions down, including the reasoning.”

Second, distribute the work that confers status, including client exposure, strategic projects and opportunities to present to leadership.

“Proximity bias shows up in assignment patterns long before it shows up in engagement scores. Audit yours.”

Third, establish a reliable one-to-one cadence because, as Metcalf puts it, “Belonging is confirmed individually, not in group settings.”

She also recommends measuring visible outcomes, including promotion rates by location, meeting airtime and who repeatedly receives opportunities.

“Belonging is an outcome of how work is designed.”

Use Small Behaviors to Create Psychological Presence

Large systems matter, but Dr. Ariel Shivers McGrew emphasizes that belonging is also reinforced through small, repeatable human behaviors. McGrew, a Business Psychologist and Founder of Tactful Disruption®, works at the intersection of trauma-informed psychology and corporate strategy. Her organization develops behavioral frameworks and workplace systems designed to help leaders address burnout, team friction and sustainable organizational growth.

McGrew says managers can create belonging through “common-factor behaviors that make people feel seen and understood.”

“Simple human cues—sharing a little to gain a little—serve as natural icebreakers before moving into the agenda.”

Those moments do not need to be elaborate. The goal is to create psychological presence and demonstrate that the interaction is more than a transaction.

“Belonging grows when managers check for misunderstandings, clarify expectations and demonstrate active listening by reflecting back a detail at the end of the conversation.”

These micro-behaviors can create continuity and trust across distance. They also help employees feel that managers understand their circumstances rather than simply monitoring their output.

“In hybrid settings, belonging isn’t built through proximity; it’s built through consistent soft-skill signals that reinforce connection, clarity and psychological presence.”

Make Inclusion Part of How Work Gets Done

Dr. Curtis Odom sees belonging as inseparable from the everyday mechanics of inclusion. Odom is Managing Partner of Prescient Strategists and an Associate Teaching Professor of Management and Organizational Development at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, bringing more than 25 years of Fortune 100 experience to organizational transformation, leadership development and workforce strategy.

“Managers operationalize belonging by making inclusion a consistent part of how work gets done, not an occasional engagement activity,” Odom says.

“Start by creating equitable access to information, visibility, development opportunities, and decision-making regardless of where employees work.”

Managers should establish predictable communication rhythms and design meetings so remote voices have equal weight. Connection should also extend beyond transactional work.

“Managers should also build psychological safety by inviting diverse perspectives, recognizing contributions and responding constructively to feedback.”

The final component is accountability. Organizations should not rely solely on informal impressions to determine whether belonging exists.

“Measure belonging through employee listening, engagement data, retention patterns and talent outcomes.”

Odom’s perspective reinforces a broader point: belonging becomes sustainable when managers are evaluated on the environment they create, not merely the output their teams produce.

Protect Information Parity

The systems that determine belonging often become most visible when information is unevenly distributed.

Volen Vulkov, Co-Founder of Enhancv R&D, brings a perspective centered on helping professionals communicate their experience and value with clarity. Enhancv develops career tools designed to make the job-search process more personal and human.

Vulkov identifies a particular threat to belonging in distributed work:

“Belonging in a distributed environment dies in the unrecorded hallway conversation.”

In distributed workplaces, inclusion can also be shaped by something less visible: who has access to the conversations and context that influence decisions. If that access varies by location, employees may begin to experience different levels of influence and opportunity.

“When strategic context or key decisions stay locked inside spontaneous office chats, remote employees correctly infer they are second-class citizens.”

His recommendation is an “Async Documentation First” rule requiring strategic decisions, debates and project pivots to be recorded with clear rationale before they are considered final.

“When information parity is baked into the operating system, location no longer dictates leverage or inclusion.”

That principle creates a practical bridge between culture and process. Documentation may appear administrative, but in a distributed organization, it can also determine who has access to the context needed to contribute.

Key Takeaways to Make Belonging Part of Everyday Work

• Develop belonging as a management capability. Select, develop and promote managers based in part on their ability to create meaningful connection across locations.
• Do not mistake performance for connection. Regularly assess whether high-performing employees also feel connected to their teams and organization.
• Measure outcomes, not visibility. Ensure access to opportunity and recognition does not depend on how often someone is physically present.
• Treat connection as real work. Give one-on-ones, recognition and individual check-ins the same discipline as other management responsibilities.
• Build belonging into work design. Create information symmetry, distribute high-visibility opportunities and monitor whether location affects career outcomes.
• Use consistent human signals. Active listening, clarity and small moments of personal connection can reinforce trust across distance.
• Make inclusion part of everyday operations. Provide equitable access to information, development, decision-making and meaningful participation.
• Document strategic context. Record important decisions and their rationale so informal office conversations do not determine who has influence.

Belonging Cannot Be Left to Chance

The strongest message from the HR Think Tank is that hybrid work did not eliminate belonging—it eliminated many of the accidental conditions that once made connection easier to assume. Managers now have to do deliberately what proximity sometimes did imperfectly on its own.

The organizations that succeed will treat belonging as both a human experience and an operating discipline. When information, opportunity, recognition and relationships are designed to travel across locations, employees no longer have to be in the room to know that they matter.