How to Create an Employee Schedule for a Remote or Hybrid Team

It’s official. In-office jobs are out! 

Yep, you heard us. With 55% of US remote-capable employees working hybrid and 26% being fully remote, being on-site is no longer the norm. 

The standards of work and what employees are growing to expect are evolving, and you need to adapt your policies and procedures to match that. 

But it’s not all bad!  

Remote and hybrid employees are proven to be more engaged than on-site workers. More engaged employees mean more results for your growing business. Everyone’s a winner. 

The biggest challenge managers struggle with when it comes to remote or hybrid work is adapting to changes in visibility. You can no longer poke your head out of the office to see who’s in, use a shared whiteboard to share updates, or a monthly calendar tacked to a wall to identify leave schedules.  

While change can be hard, we’re sure you can admit those were not the most fool-proof methods anyways. In this article, we’ll teach you how to create an employee schedule for your team with total confidence and accuracy. Ready?  

The Benefits of a Creating a Well-Structured Employee Schedule 

Without a clear schedule, remote and hybrid teams can feel like they’re working in the dark. 

Who’s online? Who’s stepping away for a break? When’s the best time for a quick check-in? 

Without structure, simple coordination turns into a guessing game. A well-made employee schedule takes the stress out of team collaboration. 

Here’s why it matters: 

Increased Productivity: No more constant “Are you free?” messages. A clear schedule helps employees plan their day without interruptions, cutting down on wasted time and boosting focus. 

Improved Collaboration: Whether your team is spread across time zones or just working different hours, a structured schedule ensures meetings, deadlines, and team check-ins happen when they need to. Done are the days of endless rescheduling or waiting all day for a reply. 

Better Work-Life Balance: When employees know exactly when they’re expected to be available, and when they’re not, they can log off guilt-free. This encourages teams to set healthy boundaries and actually enjoy their time off. 

Fewer Conflicts: Have you ever tried scheduling a meeting only to find out half the team is unavailable or out sick or on vacation? A structured schedule prevents these conflicts before they happen, making sure your team is there when you need them. 

At the end of the day, a good schedule is about much more than just tracking hours, it’s about creating a work environment where people feel in control of their time and can do their best work. We’ll teach you how to achieve that, but first, let’s explore your options when it comes to different types of employee schedules. 

Types of Remote and Hybrid Work Schedules

Remote Work Models 

Remote-first: Going to the office is optional, not mandatory, and remote work is the priority. Employees can do all their work from home but have an office space to work from (if they want to). 

Fully remote: No office, no in-person requirements. Employees can work from anywhere, including a coworking space, a café, or a whole other country. Although, they sometimes might meet up on a company retreat each year, just like our team at Vacation Tracker! 

Asynchronous: Work happens on your schedule, not someone else’s. That means real-time meetings are replaced with emails or Slack messages, video messages, or project management tools. This is ideal for teams across time zones. 

Hybrid Work Models  

Office-first: The office is the primary workspace, but employees enjoy the privilege of working from home on occasion. Remote work is treated more as a perk here than the norm, offering a little more flexibility to in-office culture. 

Remote-friendly: More similar to the remote-first work model, remote work is allowed here, although employees have the option to go to an in-person office. Remote-friendly teams are often less distributed than remote-first teams and likely find themselves working in-person more often. This model suits companies that embrace remote work but still see value in having a physical workspace for certain activities, striking a balance between hybrid, remote, and in-office work styles. 

Core hours and flex time: Teams are expected to work during key hours but have flexibility with the rest of their schedule. Some remote teams operate this way as well.

Team-driven: Teams, rather than businesses, are in charge of deciding how often they should meet in person. This means that accounting might be fully remote while marketing meets weekly. 

Cohort-based: To avoid the office looking like a ghost town on Fridays, this model divides employees into groups, rotating office days to promote collaboration without chaos or total isolation. 

Job-role-specific: Schedules are assigned based on roles and titles. Some jobs may require a lot of in-person work, while others might not. 

Structure hybrid: This is the new norm, with 37% of employers adopting this model in 2024. Structure hybrid is when companies set strict guidelines on in-office days and remote days. For example, we commonly hear of teams being remote on Mondays and Fridays and in-office the rest of the week.  

How to Create an Employee Schedule for Remote & Hybrid Teams: A Step-by-Step Guide

Step1: Define scheduling requirements 

No two businesses are alike. 

Sure, successful companies like Buffer, Zapier, and Airbnb are fully remote. But then Google uses the office-centric approach.  

So, what’s the best method?  

It depends on you! 

You’ll need to analyze your team's specific needs to determine what's ideal. 

For example, here are some things you may want to consider: 

Time Zones: Are employees spread across different regions? How much overlap is required for real-time collaboration? 

Team Availability: Are there set hours when everyone should be online? Do employees need flex time? 

Business Needs: What are the critical meeting times, deadlines, and customer support hours that require extra coverage? 

Collaboration vs. Focus Time: Does the team need long stretches of uninterrupted work time? Or are frequent check-ins necessary? 

Legal Compliance: Does your scheduling model align with labor laws, overtime policies, and company regulations? 

Step 2: Gather employee availability and preference 

Some of your employees might be early birds, others might be night owls. Maybe many of them are parents who need to pick up their children from school in the afternoon, or students who need evenings free to study.  

To make a good schedule, you need to know your team. It’s important to collect data on: 

• Preferred working hours 
• Time zone differences 
• Weekly availability for meetings 
• Personal constraints (Childcare, school, etc.) 

Consider sending out a survey to your whole team to get the best, most comprehensive insights. Try using Google Surveys, Slack polls, or Survey Monkey! 

Step 3: Implement the right software 

You can’t do everything all by yourself. Sometimes, you need a little support.  

The right tech stack can save you from a logistical nightmare, help you eliminate guesswork, and make coordination a piece of cake.  

To create a well-structured employee schedule, you may need a few tools. Here’s what we recommend: 

A basic calendar

You’ll need a shared calendar to be able to coordinate meetings, track availability, and set reminders. The easiest options are those you likely already know: Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar. Here, you can create a shared schedule highlighting core working hours, allowing employees to set time when they’re available and keep track of their workday. 

💡 Best for: Setting core working hours, tracking availability, and scheduling team-wide meetings. 

A leave tracking tool 

Worse than a missed or rescheduled meeting, an impromptu sick day, or a time zone issue is the forgotten vacation! Why? Because employees are not unavailable for an hour or a day, they’re gone for days or weeks! This means you might find yourself waiting on a reply for way too long and wasting so much time. 

The solution? Use a leave management tool like Vacation Tracker for easy, conflict-free scheduling. This allows managers to approve time off requests with confidence that no one is off at the same time in that department. It also gives teams a clear view of who’s off, whether across the entire company or just within their department, helping them plan ahead and maintain coverage.

💡 Best for: Managing vacation days, sick leave, and holidays to avoid scheduling gaps or conflicts. 

A project management tool 

The ultimate goal when you create an employee schedule is obvious: Improve productivity, make sure deadlines are met, and keep teams on track. While having the right employees there when needed and avoiding scheduling surprises is helpful, it’s also important to make sure projects are scheduled and tracked correctly. A project management tool like Asana, Trello, or ClickUp helps teams stay on top of deadlines, tasks, and priorities.  

💡 Best for: Assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and keeping projects moving without unnecessary check-ins. 

A time tracking tool 

Is your team made up of hourly employees, contractors, or freelancers? If so, it’s especially hard to keep track of them in remote or hybrid settings. To make sure their billable hours are logged correctly and monitor productivity trends without micromanaging, questioning, or feeling overly invasive, consider a time-tracking tool like Toggl or Harvest.  

💡 Best for: Monitoring work hours, tracking billable time, and monitoring productivity. 

A communication tool 

Back in the world of in-office work, you could just get up and go talk to a colleague about a question or status update. Quick meetings could be called at the drop of a pin just by looking up and shouting it out. 

The reality is: that’s not possible anymore. 

So the solution to ensuring strong team communication without flooding inboxes is a communication tool, like Slack or Teams. Not only do these offer status updates to quickly see who’s busy, who’s available, who’s away, and who’s ooo, but they also allow teams to quickly ping and call each other, in groups or one-on-one. The best part is that the tools integrate with your shared calendar and leave tracking tools for visibility on team availability at every level.  

💡 Best for: Ensuring collaboration, reducing emails, enabling quick check-ins, and keeping conversations organized.

A scheduling software

If your employees all work in the same time zone on full-time schedules, you likely won’t need this. But, if you’re navigating a more complex scheduling, with a mix full-time and part-time employees as well as hourly employees or shift workers whose schedules differ each week, you’ll need a scheduling tool. Unlike basic calendar tools, scheduling software automates assignments, shift swaps, and availability tracking, reducing manual effort.

💡 Best for: Automating shift planning, managing hourly workers, and ensuring fair schedule distribution.  

Step 4: Establish Clear Scheduling Guidelines 

Now that you’ve decided your scheduling model, gathered employee opinions, and settled on some software, it’s time to create your policy. 

Create a simple yet comprehensive document that defines core hours, meeting policies, and response time expectations. You’ll need to explain your remote or hybrid work model, outlining where employees should work and when. 

Promote transparency for your team by documenting scheduling policies and keeping them in your company’s employee handbook. It should be something everyone reads upon being hired and can access at any point during their employment. An informed team is an aligned team! 

Overcoming Common Scheduling Challenges 

Even with the best scheduling model, things don’t always go according to plan. Whether it’s mismatched time zones, too many meetings, or employees working odd hours, there are a few common pitfalls that can disrupt even the most well-structured schedule. Here’s how to tackle them head-on.  

Time Zone Overlaps 

Did you know that 62% of remote employees collaborate with teammates in different time zones? 

So, it's definitely not a surprise if your team is spread across the globe. But this often makes finding a meeting time that works for everyone feel impossible. There are always a few people working too early, too late, or missing key conversations entirely. 

Best Practices 

• Use time zone-friendly scheduling tools to visually map out availability. 
• Adopt a core hours model, where employees have set overlap hours for real-time collaboration, but the rest of their work is flexible. 
• Rethink meetings. Can that status update be a recorded video, a Slack message, or an Asana task instead? 

Burnout & Overwork 

One of the biggest risks in remote and hybrid work? Never knowing when to log off. 

Without clear schedules, employees might work longer hours simply because their “office” is always there. Before you know it, people are skipping breaks, checking emails at night, and struggling to disconnect. 

Best Practices 

• Set clear working hour expectations and make it okay to unplug. 
• Encourage breaks so no one feels pressured to be available 24/7. 
• Enforce time-off policies with a leave tracking tool like Vacation Tracker and monitor usage trends to prevent burnout from happening.

Too Many Meetings

In-office, a quick check-in might have been as simple as stopping by someone’s desk. But in remote teams? Every small update turns into a meeting.  

23% of remote workers spend between 6 and 10 hours each week in meetings. That’s up to a fourth of their workweek!  

See how easy it is for calendars to get flooded and actual work to take a backseat?

Best Practices 

• Cut down on unnecessary meetings by shifting to asynchronous communication using tools to provide updates without forcing everyone into a call. 
• Limit recurring meetings; not every weekly sync-up is essential. If an update can be written instead, write it. 
• Keep meetings short and intentional. If a call is necessary, set a clear agenda and stick to it. 
• Establish one no-meeting day per week to allow your team time for deep work without interruption.

Lack of Accountability

Without a shared workspace, it’s harder to visibly track who’s working on what. This can lead to confusion, duplicated work, or inversely, the dreaded “I thought you were handling that” moment. 

Best Practices 

• Use a scheduling tool with built-in tracking features so employees can log hours, update availability, and document tasks. 
• Set clear deadlines and responsibilities in a project management tool to eliminate any confusion. 
• Make status updates part of the workflow by including daily check-ins or a shared dashboard to help teams stay aligned without micromanaging.

No Visibility

One of the biggest challenges in remote and hybrid teams is knowing who’s working, who’s off, and when teammates are available. Without a shared physical space, traditional visibility methods like checking desks or glancing at a wall calendar are no longer possible. 

Best Practices 

• Use Vacation Tracker to get real-time visibility into team availability, PTO, and remote work days, all in one place. 
• Centralize scheduling by integrating leave and availability tracking directly into Slack or Microsoft Teams, so no one has to guess who’s online. 

No schedule is completely foolproof, but tackling these challenges proactively makes a world of difference. A well-structured schedule isn’t just about when people work—it’s about how they work together efficiently, without burning out or getting buried in meetings. 

The Importance of Visibility When Creating Remote or Hybrid Employee Schedules 

A schedule only works if people can actually see it. If no one knows who’s working, who’s off, or when their teammates are available, it’s just a list of hours that doesn’t help anyone. Meetings get scheduled at the wrong times, deadlines get pushed, and suddenly, what should be a straightforward process turns into a mess of miscommunication. 

That’s where Vacation Tracker comes in. Instead of digging through emails or sending endless Slack messages just to figure out availability, teams get a real-time view of PTO, sick days, and remote work schedules—all in the tools they already use, like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace. 

But visibility isn’t just about knowing who’s off, it’s also about making sure the right balance of people are available to keep things running smoothly. With our Vacation Tracker's latest add-on, Max Users Away, managers can set a maximum percentage of employees who can be on leave at the same time to:

• Prevent coverage gaps by ensuring enough staff is available at all times.
• Reduce operational disruptions caused by overlapping leaves.
• Maintain efficiency during peak business periods without scrambling for last-minute adjustments.
• Approve leave with confidence.

Instead of manually tracking leave limits or realizing too late that too many people are off at once, managers can set limits in advance and let Vacation Tracker do the rest.

With automated leave tracking, real-time updates, and customizable leave limits, managers can plan ahead, avoid scheduling conflicts, and keep things running without unnecessary back-and-forth. No more guessing. No more surprises. Just clear, accessible employee schedules.

Try Vacation Tracker for free and see how it helps boost visibility and create employee schedules for remote or hybrid teams.

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