Despite often being used interchangeably, the terms agile working and flexible working refer to separate styles of work, requiring different kinds of office design and infrastructure. We explain the difference between hybrid, flexible and agile working.
We define agility in the workplace, by considering the ways of working that support it and typically this involves agile working, flexible working or hybrid working. There are a lot of similarities between the working models as well as the terminology used to describe them. To make things simpler, it is possible to think of these 3 working models as the how, when and where.
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Agile working is the how – it is enabled by specific working models such as core and flex and activity-based working. Agile working is activated by different types of furniture, zoning and principles that need to be followed.
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Flexible working is the when – flexible working is predominantly based on working hours and how the traditional 9-5 can be adapted to accommodate a better work/life balance.
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Hybrid working is the where – hybrid working is simply the combination of remote and office-based work. Hybrid working promotes a blend of environments and offers the best of both worlds.
