Hybrid labs: coordinating work when your team isn’t always onsite 

Today’s lab looks nothing like the lab of five years ago. Remote work, flexible shifts, cross-site collaboration: they’re no longer the exception, they’re the norm. But the moment you embrace the model of hybrid labs, your ability to coordinate everybody’s work gets seriously stress-tested. Who’s onsite? Who’s remote? What’s the handover plan? And where can you see the full picture? 

But don’t worry, there’s a simple solution. 

The old ways don’t work in a hybrid world

During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, life science companies were forced to rethink how they handled continuity of work for tasks that don’t require direct access to the laboratory environment and its specialized equipment. In particular, quality and regulatory administration – in addition to much training – suddenly became activities that could comfortably be delivered remotely, giving rise to a lot more flexibility even in the post-lockdown era. This led teams to embed new, hybrid lab processes that could better accommodate a more adaptable way-of-working.

Nevertheless, one area in which the legacy approach has been slow to adapt is lab planning: in many cases, planning processes continue to rely heavily on face-to-face coordination, static schedules, and in-person status updates. However, with team members now routinely working from different locations, time zones, or shifts, communication gaps multiply and planners increasingly struggle to effectively maintain a whiteboard plan or spreadsheet schedule in a way that reflects the new normal for hybrid labs. 

What hybrid labs need is dynamic coordination

Being hybrid doesn’t mean being disconnected; with the right tools, labs can create seamless coordination across roles, shifts, and sites. That means: 

• Everyone knows what to work on, when, and with whom 

• Workloads are balanced, even when team members are remote 

• Handover moments are clear, documented, and visible to all 

Binocs: the differentiator

Binocs brings structure to the hybrid chaos by helping labs to: 

• Plan flexibly: Schedule by role, skill, or location, so you always know who’s where and when 

• Enable asynchronous collaboration: Analysts can view, comment, or update their schedule from anywhere, so no chasing emails or meetings 

• Orchestrate handovers: Define dependencies and ensure the next person knows exactly what to do, even across shifts or sites 

• Balance workload fairly: Get visibility into team capacity – remote or onsite – to avoid burnout and underutilization 

More flexibility, less friction

Hybrid labs need to be based on more than good intentions,  they need smart, structured coordination to keep work flowing smoothly. Binocs makes it possible to scale flexibility without sacrificing quality, traceability or compliance. 

Final thought

At Bluecrux, we understand that the future of lab work has to be flexible. That’s exactly why Binocs is helping labs to embrace hybrid ways of working with confidence and control. Because, when your team can flex but your plan stays solid, that’s where the magic happens.