Hybrid work arrangements enable employees with care responsibilities to work flexibly but may create career disadvantages. In a global workforce where more than 1.4 billion employed people have some level of care responsibilities (International Labour Organization, 2018). To minimize these potential career costs, some employees may conceal or sacrifice their carer roles (Kossek et al., 2021).

Drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll et al., 2018), the dual pathway model of remote work intensity (Gajendran et al., 2024) and the socially embedded model of thriving at work (SEMT; Spreitzer et al., 2005), this study aims to examine whether employee care responsibilities influence hybrid work patterns and how these patterns influence employee thriving at work. In addition, this study investigates whether hierarchical position as a structural job resource and perceived location flexibility as a psychological job resource moderate the relationships among care responsibilities, hybrid work patterns, and thriving at work.

Using three months of objective office attendance data from 5,454 full-time employees from a large professional services firm in Australia, matched with employee annual survey data, the authors find employees with care responsibilities attend the office less but have greater day-of-week consistency in work locations (e.g., attending the office every Tuesday and Thursday) than those without care responsibilities. Greater office attendance and day-of-week consistency improves both two dimensions of employee thriving, i.e., vitality and learning. These effects are stronger for employees in lower-level positions and who perceive less location flexibility.

The results highlight the importance of customizing flexibility arrangements for carers, particularly those in lower-level positions or with less control over their work arrangements. The findings also underscore the critical roles of both the intensity of office attendance and the consistency in weekday attendance in promoting thriving in hybrid work settings.

This study offers timely insights into how care responsibilities shape employees’ hybrid work patterns, how these patterns influence thriving at work, and how hierarchical position and perceived location flexibility play important roles in these dynamics. Practitioners, including organisational psychologists and human resource managers, can use the findings of this study to design hybrid work practices and policies that promote a thriving workplace and better support employees with care responsibilities.