Research brief
Anchor Days: how hybrid schedules actually settle
Mandates move attendance for about six weeks. Anchor days move it permanently. What separates the schedules that hold from the ones that quietly collapse.
Headline findings
Policies fail on purpose, not on percentage
The schedules that hold specify what the day is for — planning, onboarding, design review, difficult conversations — rather than how many days a week people owe the building.
Leadership attendance is the strongest single predictor
Where the leadership team takes the anchor day from home, the anchor is gone inside a month. It is the cheapest lever available and the one most often skipped.
Design for the people the schedule excludes
Caregivers, part-time colleagues, and other-city teammates will miss the day. Deciding in advance which decisions can be made without them is what keeps an anchor day from becoming a two-tier office.
