Get the Best Out of Your Hybrid Agents

Simply allowing agents to work wherever they want is not enough! Rather, it requires intentional support, clear expectations, and a culture that enables them to perform at their best – anywhere.

So, what really underpins a successful hybrid strategy? And how do you make sure that this flexibility does not come at the expense of engagement, productivity, or connection? We asked our panel of technology experts to find out.

Stop Thinking About Hybrid Purely as a Location Choice

Hybrid work isn’t a location choice; it’s an operating model. To help people thrive, contact centre and WFM leaders need precision workforce planning, real-time agility, and experiences that reflect how colleagues actually want to work.

• Modern WFM delivers AI-assisted forecasting and scheduling that optimizes across home and office while protecting wellbeing with preference-aware policies.
• Continuous intraday automation adapts in the moment, so leaders steer by outcomes rather than firefighting.
• For colleagues, intuitive self-service, predictive shift bidding, and clear performance insights turn scheduling into agency and trust.
• For the business, open integrations and proven scalability deliver reliability without slowing innovation.

The result: workplaces where every team can perform at their best, connecting capacity to demand and empowerment to accountability.

Contributed by: Colin Whelan, Senior Director International Customer Success, Aspect 

Appoint Hybrid Experience Advocates to Give Your Agents a Voice

One creative way to support hybrid teams is by nominating a few frontline agents each month to serve as “Hybrid Experience Advocates”.

Their role is simple but impactful. They collect feedback from their peers about what’s working and what’s not when it comes to hybrid work, and they bring those insights back to leadership.

Whether it’s struggles with feeling isolated, cool new ideas for collaboration, or suggestions to improve remote workflows, these advocates help make sure the agent voice is heard.

It’s a great way to boost engagement, uncover blind spots, and create a sense of ownership across the team. Plus, rotating the role gives more agents a chance to lead and contribute to shaping the hybrid culture.

Contributed by: John Ortiz, AI and Voice Analytics Consultant, MiaRec

Use Video Calling More Often to Help Hybrid Agents Feel Part of the Team

With approximately 1.3 million customer service roles in the UK, the competition for talent is fierce. Leaders must recognise that hybrid work is no longer a perk but a recruitment necessity: 70% of job seekers now list it as a top priority.

If you enforce a full office return, you could effectively cut yourself off from the majority of the talent pool.

To empower these workers to thrive, leadership must pivot from surveillance to supportive visibility. Hybrid agents need to feel part of a team, not just a data point.

This is where a ‘video-first’ approach can become critical. It allows agents to escalate a chat to a face-to-face video call instantly, or for supervisors to drop into a call visually to offer support.

Contributed by: Ben Neo, Head of Contact Center and CX Sales EMEA, Zoom

Understand How Conversations Unfold Across EVERY Shift, Channel, and Location

Employees don’t coach themselves. Whether on-site or hybrid, agents need feedback to improve performance – and good feedback depends on three things:

• Timeliness
• Fairness
• Clarity

Hybrid working has transformed how contact centres operate, but performance management hasn’t kept pace. Delayed feedback, limited manager availability, and outdated call sampling are still the norm, leaving many agents without the guidance they need.

To help hybrid teams thrive, leaders need visibility that doesn’t rely on physical proximity. That means understanding how conversations unfold across every shift, channel, and location – not just the small sample of calls that get reviewed manually.

Modern analytics makes this possible, surfacing patterns in behaviour, sentiment, and outcomes across all interactions. Used well, it enables fairer feedback, more consistent coaching, and clearer expectations.

Contributed by: Gary Nixon, Co-Owner, Callytics

Monitor for Burnout (and Proactively Try to Reduce It!)

Hybrid working was once unimaginable, but now it’s proven to improve work-life balance with less commuting and more flexibility. The question is, how do you help your hybrid workforce thrive? Here are some tips:

• Split Shifts – Offer adaptable hours for employees with childcare or other commitments. This opens your business to a broader talent pool and improves staffing and flexibility.
• Flexible Hours – Allow employees to choose when they work, with the right tools and boundaries in place.
• Encourage Breaks – Support proper lunch, comfort, and walking breaks to promote wellbeing.
• Breakout Sessions – Virtual yoga, meditation, or social activities build community.
• Communication – Keep remote employees informed and included.
• In-Office Days – Make them purposeful with meetings, coaching, and team events.
• Training – Digitize where possible.
• Monitor Burnout – Regular check-ins help identify stress early.

Contributed by: Shaunna Ruddick, Technical Consultant, Route 101

Lean into Strong Adherence Monitoring and Clear Reporting for Early Intervention

To help hybrid workers thrive, contact centres need tools that empower their employees by removing friction from daily tasks.

For example, for WFM planners and leaders, strong adherence monitoring and clear reporting provide visibility across both remote and on-site teams, helping them monitor effectively and intervene early.

Backing these up with accurate forecasting and optimized scheduling ensures hybrid workers get schedules that reflect real demand while still supporting flexibility.

By using the right WFM technology, enabling structured communication, and creating performance feedback loops, contact centres can create empowered, high-performing hybrid teams.

Contributed by: Zainab Ahmed, Marketing Manager, Peopleware

Equip Managers with Insight That Shows Who is Thriving AND Who is Stuck

Hybrid work often tempts leaders to tighten the reins, because they cannot easily track work in the same way as the office.

A better approach is to give team members ownership of their success. So, be crystal clear on what good looks like: outcomes, behaviours and customer impact, then let agents see and track their performance against that standard.

Wrap that up with regular, low pressure coaching conversations so feedback feels supportive, and not like a performance review.

In a dispersed team, digital culture has to be deliberate; short huddles with genuine check ins, visible peer recognition linked to real wins, and “team rituals” that bring remote and on-site colleagues together.

Finally, equip managers with simple insight that shows who is thriving, who is stuck, and where to focus their coaching, so they can lead with confidence rather than resorting to rushed and reactive monitoring.

Contributed by: Piers Brown, Commercial Director, EMEA, Centrical

Give Agents Visibility of Their Escalation and Support Ecosystem

Prioritize a work environment where communication, performance visibility, and support are always available.

Embedded AI Assistants (Co-Pilot style capabilities) will guide colleagues around the next best action and surface knowledge and transactional toolkits instantly. This keeps hybrid workers constantly up to date with the latest content whilst also optimizing transaction times.  

These tools help to balance agent performance and keep performance management fair. They also give hybrid workers the clarity and autonomy they need to deliver consistently strong outcomes for customers.

Integrating Microsoft Teams into your CCaaS interface is another way for colleagues to see the status (presence) of their escalation and support ecosystem. This gives agents reassurance around colleague availability should they need support themselves.  

Customizable real time dashboards also let staff track targets and workload, encouraging ownership and accountability around service delivery.

Contributed by: Lewis Gallagher, Senior Solutions Consultant, Netcall

Quickly Identify the Most Critical Coaching Opportunities – Regardless of Where the Agent is Working

As contact centres look to better empower hybrid workers, many are moving beyond reactive workforce management and embracing workforce intelligence.

For example, features within workforce intelligence systems, such as automatic quality management, provide real-time visibility into 100% of interactions, helping monitor agent performance across all locations.

When combined with other features such as sentiment analysis and AI-driven tags that automatically categorise interactions to uncover trends, supervisors can quickly identify the most critical coaching opportunities, regardless of where the agent is working.

It isn’t a ‘Big Brother’ situation of constant surveillance, but ensures remote agents receive the same level of guidance and coaching as colleagues in the office.

Contributed by: Magnus Geverts, VP of Product Marketing, Calabrio

Recreate the Same Environment at Home as Experienced in the Physical Contact Centre

Hybrid working is fundamentally about recreating the same environment at home as in the physical contact centre.

Agents must have access to the same information, tools and prompts, and feel equally supported, with supervisors able to check in as if they were virtually standing over their shoulder and providing real-time performance insight.

Technology plays a critical role here. Subject to local regulatory requirements, real-time sentiment analysis can support agent wellbeing by identifying when someone has handled several challenging interactions in a row and prompting appropriate breaks or intervention.

Auto Quality Management (QM) is equally essential; sampling just 3% of interactions is no longer sufficient in a hybrid model. Auto-analyzing 100% of interactions across all channels ensures consistent coaching and fairness.

AI-powered knowledge management can also prompt agents in real-time, allowing them to click back to original sources for reassurance, much as they would if asking a colleague in person. Integrated inter-agent and supervisor chat is vital, particularly as home workers often operate on fewer screens.

Contributed by: Martin Taylor, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO, Content Guru

Empower Supervisors to Provide Instant Guidance and Peer Support to Agents

Hybrid environments can unintentionally isolate agents, weakening team culture and knowledge sharing. So, leaders must intentionally foster engagement, for example using collaboration-enabled CX technology. 

Unified desktop tools, integrated messaging, and shared knowledge bases ensure both remote and on-site agents have equal access to information, peers, and support. 

AI-powered knowledge management can surface relevant answers in real time, reducing frustration and improving confidence during customer interactions.

Meanwhile, collaboration tools embedded into contact centre platforms help supervisors provide instant guidance and peer support without disrupting workflows. 

Contributed by: Dave Bentsen, Sales Manager, Enghouse Interactive

Give Every Agent Access to the Data They Need to Deliver Consistently Exceptional Customer Service – From Anywhere

To support distributed teams, modern CCaaS solutions must unify communication and streamline workflows.

By integrating all channels – voice, chat, SMS, and in-app support – into a single, intuitive interface, these platforms ensure agents have immediate, contextual access to unified customer history and third-party data. This enables faster, more personalized interactions, boosting first contact resolution.

Features like real-time agent assist, automated interaction summaries, and deep CRM integration enhance context for every call. Furthermore, AI-based Workforce Optimization tools provide intelligent forecasting, scheduling, and Quality Management, empowering supervisors to effectively manage distributed teams.

This reliable, secure, and unified environment allows hybrid agents to deliver consistently exceptional customer service from anywhere.

Contributed by: Matthew Clare, VP, Product Marketing, UJET

Start Thinking About Hybrid Working as a Superpower – Not a Compromise!

Hybrid work can be brilliant for balance and autonomy, but only if leaders design for it deliberately!

The smartest contact centres empower hybrid workers by giving them clarity, not control: clean processes, consistent tools, and real-time insight that helps them grow rather than feel monitored.

Match that with AI-driven guidance, seamless voice-and-digital workflows, and support channels that make it easy to ask for help without judgement.

Just as important is culture. Flexible scheduling, trust over micromanagement, and genuine psychological safety make all the difference, especially for diverse teams with different working needs.

When people feel equipped and valued, hybrid stops being a compromise and becomes a performance superpower.

Contributed by: Tara Aldridge, Head of Product Enablement, Vonage

What Have You Tried to Better Support Your Hybrid Workers?

Click here to join our NEW Readers Panel to share your experiences and feature in future Call Centre Helper articles.

For more great insights and advice from our panel of experts, read these articles next:

• New Ways to Help Agents Build Rapport
• Top Contact Centre Predictions for 2026
• Create a “Win–Win” Self-Service Strategy

Author: Megan Jones