Leadership
How to Balance Employee Expectations with Business Realities
How leaders can balance employee expectations for flexibility with business priorities for performance, culture, and growth.
September 11, 2025
Finding Balance in a World of Hybrid Work
Hybrid work may be the preference of many employees, but the reality for UK organisations is more complex. A 2025 CIPD report highlights that 61% of employers see flexible working as critical to attracting and retaining talent, and 1.1 million employees have left roles due to lack of flexibility.
Yet, many large businesses are now mandating four or five days a week in the office—prioritising collaboration, culture, and productivity to drive commercial growth.
For senior leaders, this creates a delicate balance. How do you align workforce expectations with business imperatives, while maintaining engagement and competitiveness?
The answer lies in adaptability, with human-centric leadership at the forefront. Leaders who evolve their strategies to bridge organisational priorities and employee needs will be the ones to sustain long-term success.
The Challenges of Developing Organisational Culture in a Hybrid Setting
Hybrid models, whether fully flexible or office-first, present a real test for organisational culture. The once seamless connection formed by in-person interactions now faces a digital divide. Without regular, spontaneous connections, employees working away from the office can feel isolated from the company’s mission and values.
A 2024 report by the British Red Cross revealed that more than one in ten workers often or always experience aspects of loneliness at work, with nearly half feeling lonely some of the time. This isn’t just a matter of morale, it's about engagement and performance. Leaders must weigh up the benefits of in-person culture building with the realities of workforce expectations for flexibility.
Human-Centric Leadership: The Bedrock of Success
In this environment, leadership must be rooted in human connection. The days of “command and control” leadership are over. Today’s leaders must embrace empathy, trust, and psychological safety as foundational elements of their management style.
Effective human-centric leadership requires a deep understanding of individual needs while maintaining clear standards for performance. Why? Because employees want to feel heard and valued, but organisations also need to achieve business outcomes. Striking that balance is at the heart of hybrid success.
When employees feel genuinely cared for and understand the rationale behind workplace policies, they become more committed, innovative, and productive.
Human-centric leadership creates a culture where open communication and transparency are expected—building the trust and morale needed to thrive, whether people are remote, hybrid, or office-based. That trust is not just cultural currency, it directly fuels higher retention, innovation, and sustainable performance across the organisation.
This can be achieved through motions such as, hosting regular cross-team forums where remote and in-office employees contribute equally, ensuring policies are co-created and everyone feels represented in shaping the culture.
“The most effective leaders aren’t defined by the control they hold, but by the trust they build. In a hybrid world, human-centric leadership is no longer optional—it’s the foundation of resilience, engagement, and performance. When people feel seen, heard, and valued, they don’t just meet expectations—they exceed them,” says Mark Richardson, Senior Client Partner, Culture, Leadership & Top Team Performance
Effective Strategies for Managing Hybrid Teams
Managing teams in this new landscape demands a shift from traditional approaches to communication, collaboration, and performance management. With less face-to-face interaction, leaders must create deliberate pathways for connection and accountability.
Key strategies include:
- Measure outcomes, not hours: Focus on results, not physical presence. Set clear, measurable objectives and allow teams autonomy in how they achieve them.
- Encourage asynchronous collaboration: By enabling flexibility in working hours, employees in different locations or schedules can still contribute meaningfully.
- Prioritise recognition and feedback: Frequent, real-time feedback and appreciation help maintain morale and motivation.
These approaches don’t just support hybrid work , they improve retention, accelerate innovation, and ensure employees stay engaged with business-critical goals, regardless of where they work.
Inclusivity in a Hybrid Environment
Inclusion must extend beyond simply ensuring remote employees can dial into meetings. It’s about ensuring every employee feels involved, valued, and heard—regardless of where they spend most of their week.
In office-first organisations, leaders must be conscious of proximity bias; in flexible-first ones, they must guard against remote workers feeling invisible.
Human-centric leaders intentionally build fairness into decision-making, recognition, and development opportunities. In doing so, they ensure that every employee, office-based or remote, feels empowered and vital to the organisation’s success.
To make inclusivity real, leaders should embed structured practices that prevent bias. This includes rotating who chairs meetings, prioritising contributions from remote participants, and creating transparent criteria for recognition and promotion.
Regularly reviewing advancement and engagement data helps identify gaps, while cross-functional mentoring ensures both office-based and remote employees access equal development opportunities.
Moving Forward: Human-Centric Leadership in Hybrid Environments
As work models continue to evolve, the need for human-centric leadership has never been clearer. The challenges of hybrid work aren’t just logistical,they’re deeply human. Leaders must develop the emotional intelligence, digital communication skills, and adaptability needed to manage both employee expectations and business requirements.
To equip leaders for success:
- Focus on emotional intelligence and flexibility. Training should emphasise empathy, active listening, and adaptability.
- Develop digital and in-person leadership skills. Leaders must excel at managing performance and engagement in both office and remote settings.
- Provide continuous support and feedback. Development should be ongoing to help leaders respond to shifting workforce needs.
By prioritising leadership development, organisations can ensure their leaders are equipped to balance flexibility with performance, creating an environment where people and businesses alike can succeed.
Leading in The Future of Work
Hybrid work is no longer a temporary shift but a permanent feature of the UK workplace, though what it looks like will vary by organisation. The companies that succeed will be those that embrace human-centric leadership, foster inclusivity, and make deliberate choices about how and when employees work together.
The organisations that are agile, resilient, and aligned with future workforce needs will not only survive but thrive.
Human-centric leadership that is empathetic, adaptable, and visionary will define the organisations of tomorrow. Not only creating inclusive cultures but driving measurable business outcomes: growth, agility, and long-term competitiveness.
Explore how Korn Ferry’s Leadership Development solutions can help your organisation lead effectively in a hybrid world.
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