Recommended Free Tools
Office cliques are not an inevitable result of hybrid work, and the sources available do not measure how often they form. The underlying risk is more specific: employees who share a workplace may gain easier access to informal information, decision-makers, visibility and social contact, while colleagues elsewhere miss those opportunities. Managers can reduce that risk by making communication and opportunity access deliberate, using inclusive meeting routines, and evaluating work by outcomes rather than presence.
How hybrid work can create an office-and-remote divide
Proximity bias describes a risk that leaders may favor employees they see in person. Williamson and colleagues’ 2024 practice and policy article discusses how that preference can affect visibility, participation and access to opportunities. It draws on existing literature and Australian Public Service evidence, including manager focus groups; it is not a controlled trial showing that any one policy prevents bias. Read the article.
The mechanism is ordinary but consequential: a quick conversation after a meeting can carry context; a person nearby may be asked to weigh in; informal contact can help colleagues build relationships. These exchanges are useful when their outcomes are shared, but they can leave remote colleagues less informed or less likely to be considered for work if access depends on being physically present. That is a risk to manage, not a guarantee that office-based staff will form a literal clique.
Attendance patterns also reflect different motives and constraints. In NORC at the University of Chicago’s U.S. employee survey, fielded in August and September 2023, 22 percent of hybrid employees said they worked in person part of the time to collaborate or bond with co-workers; 30 percent said their office presence was mandated some of the time. These are reported reasons for attendance, not measures of clique prevalence or proof that mandates cause exclusion. NORC’s Return to Office Surveys also reports an HR survey fielded in November and December 2022.
#1 Best Overall
- Wire Mesh Desk Organizer: Crafted from premium mesh metal, this organizer withstands daily use in home offices, classrooms, or makeup vanities. Rust-resistant and easy to clean with a soft cloth.
- Multi-Purpose Stationery Organizer: Deigned with 6 compartments and 1 pull-out drawer, organize stationery (pens, pencils, notebooks, scissors) or makeup (brushes, lipsticks, nail polish), maximize desk space and reduce clutter for a tidy workspace.
- Space-Saving Dorm Organization: Dimensions 8.7x4.9x5.5 inch fit compact desks yet hold essentials. Back document slot, pencil holders, and shallow trays categorize items by type.
- Anti-Scratch Protection Stylish Design: Features 4 silicone pads and rounded edges to protect your desk surface, while the sleek mesh design complements modern office and home decor.
- Perfect Gift for Women: Ideal for students, professionals, or anyone seeking a clutter-free desk. Combines practicality with a feminine aesthetic for offices, dorms, or vanity tables.
Make hybrid meetings usable for everyone
A meeting is a frequent point where unequal access can become visible: participants need to hear the discussion, see shared material, get a turn to speak and know what was decided. A 2024 peer-reviewed Microsoft Research study analyzed meeting surveys alongside objective attributes from a computer-mediated communication system to examine remote-meeting effectiveness and inclusiveness. It does not establish one meeting setup as best for every team or show that a particular format prevents office cliques. See the study description.
- Set a clear turn-taking norm so people joining remotely can enter the discussion rather than compete with in-room side conversations.
- Check that remote participants can hear speakers and see the material being discussed; name who is speaking when the room setup makes that unclear.
- Share decisions, owners and deadlines after the meeting in a place accessible to the whole team.
- Choose the meeting format to fit the team’s work and participation needs. There is no evidence here that everyone must join individually, or that one other configuration is universally fair.
A 2023 Sandia National Laboratories report describes dissatisfaction with remote-participant meeting execution and tooling at one research center. Its evidence included 15 survey responses, conversations with colleagues and a nine-author Hybrid Work Team. Treat it as an example of issues one organization encountered, not an estimate of how common those problems are elsewhere. Read the Sandia report.
Rank #2
- Easy Access with Pull-Out Drawers: The drawer design allows for quick and easy access to all your office supplies. Simply place it on your desk for instant retrieval of files, stationery, and accessories. This desk organizer helps boost work efficiency while keeping your space neat and organized
- Space-Saving Design for Desk Organization: This 4-tier file organizer maximizes vertical space, offering an efficient desk storage solution without taking up valuable horizontal desk space. Suitable for small desks or home office storage, organizing everything from paper organizers to office supplies in compact spaces like craft tables or workstations
- Removable Dividers for Custom Organization: The product is equipped with 4 movable partitions, allowing you to customize your paper organizer storage. Organize files, folders, and accessories of all sizes, from paper clips to tape rolls and even paint bottles. This flexible office storage solution ensures everything has its own designated slot for easy access
- Clear Drawers for Easy Visibility: The transparent drawers provide clear visibility, allowing you to quickly locate and grab your office organizers and supplies without opening the drawers. This efficient office organization solution saves time and reduces clutter, making it easier to maintain a tidy and well-organized home office or desk setup
- Easy Assembly with Sturdy Construction: No tools required for assembly-set it up in just 2 minutes. The sturdy structure of this desktop organizer ensures long-lasting use, while the built-in stopper prevents drawers from sliding out, keeping your paper organizers and supplies safe and secure
Make informal information available to the whole team
When context is shared only through hallway conversations or in-office follow-ups, remote employees may not have the information needed to contribute. A practical response is to publish important decisions, action items and background in a shared channel or document. This applies the broader recommendation for equitable communication in Williamson and colleagues’ article; the cited sources do not test this documentation routine as a stand-alone intervention.
- After a decision, record what was decided, who owns the next step and when it is due.
- Share relevant context before asking for input, rather than relying on people to have heard an earlier informal conversation.
- Make it clear where employees can find updates and how to add questions or corrections asynchronously.
Audit access to assignments, feedback and decisions
Inclusion is not only about who speaks in meetings. Managers should check whether employees across locations have comparable access to visible work, mentoring, useful feedback and decision-making. Williamson and colleagues specifically discuss recording task allocation as a way to check whether opportunities are distributed evenly.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsRank #3
- [5 Tier Large Capacity] Upgraded SUPEASY desk organizer is 4+1 tier paper tray organizer. This paper organizer has 4 detachable trays which is perfect for holding letters, A4 paper, books, bills, magazines, mails, folders, notebooks and so on. The desk organizers can fully take advantage of your vertical space and keep your desktop clear and tidy.
- [Pen Holders & 2 Handles] This 5 tier file folder organizer owns extra pen holder (can be hung on each side or use separately), totally an all-in-one desktop organizer. With this pen holder desk organizers, your pens or other accessories can be storaged. SUPEASY file organizer adds portable handle design, making this paper organizer for desk very convenient to move and place where you need it!
- [Mesh Steel Construction] The mesh desk file organizer is made of lightweight robust metal mesh and reinforced with a solid steel frame that makes our desk tray have long-lasting strength and reliable performance. Equipped with 4 non-slip feet, 5 tier document organizer is hard to be twisted, and its bearing capacity is strong.
- [Space Saving] The stylish and multifunctional letter tray is suitable for office organization and classroom organization. 5-tier layered design keeps your desk clean and organized, lets you quickly identify the contents of each compartment super easily. The practical paper sorter organizer is a perfect gift for your families or friends.
- [Easy Assembly] After reading the installation manual or video, you can quickly assemble Supeasy office desk tray, the steps are super simple! Screwdriver is also included. It will only take you few minutes to assemble our paper tray organizer for desk.
- Choose a review period and define the opportunities that matter for the roles involved—for example, high-profile assignments, mentoring, feedback and invitations to contribute to decisions.
- Review who received those opportunities and how they were allocated. Look for patterns by work location without assuming that every difference is unfair; roles, availability and employee preferences may differ.
- Where access appears uneven, ask what shaped the decision and identify a practical adjustment, such as making selection criteria clearer or inviting additional colleagues to contribute.
Evaluate performance using agreed, job-relevant outcomes rather than visibility in the office. The 2024 article recommends objective, quantifiable measures and attention to outcomes instead of work location. Those recommendations are a basis for local practice, not proof of a universal intervention effect.
Agree on purposeful in-person time, not attendance as a cure
Teams may choose in-person time for work that benefits from co-presence or relationship building. The important distinction is between a clear purpose and an assumption that more office attendance by itself will prevent proximity bias. Williamson and colleagues caution that return mandates or work-from-home caps may reduce flexibility and autonomy and could generate resentment; they discuss awareness, fair communication, objective performance measures and negotiated team arrangements as alternatives. These are recommendations, not proven causal treatments.
Rank #4
- PERFECT FOR BUSY HOME OFFICES & SMALL BUSINESSES - Manage up to 25 active projects with stepped visibility so you can instantly find client files, ongoing work, bills to pay, and reference documents. Ideal for consultants, freelancers, teachers, administrative professionals, and work-from-home parents juggling multiple responsibilities. Each of the 5 spacious compartments holds 5 color-coded project files.
- SOLVES DESK CLUTTER WITHOUT TAKING UP MORE SPACE - Tired of messy piles and lost documents? This compact organizer (13"W x 10"D footprint) replaces sprawling stacks with an organized vertical filing system that actually saves desk space compared to traditional flat letter trays. The graduated stepped design means no more digging through piles - every file tab is visible at a glance.
- INCLUDES 25 PREMIUM POCKETFILES - REPLACES DISPOSABLE MANILA FILES - Each StationMate comes complete with 25 heavy-duty translucent PocketFiles in 5 vibrant colors (purple, yellow, green, red, blue). These 5-star rated folders are 2mm thick polypropylene - twice as durable as standard file folders - and sealed on two sides to protect contents from spills. The clear design lets you see what's inside without opening.
- ORGANIZE and PROTECT YOUR DOCUMENTS - PocketFiles are sealed on two sides so contents will not slip out and remain safe from spills and debris. PocketFiles feature a large label area so that your files can be easily identified. Great for organizing tax documents, medical records, client projects, lesson plans, vendor files, and household paperwork.
- QUICK 5-MINUTE ASSEMBLY WITH VIDEO GUIDE - Simple snap-together design with clear video instructions (no tools needed). Watch our assembly video before starting for best results. Sturdy polystyrene construction designed for stationary desktop use - handle tabs gently during setup to ensure proper fit.
Ask employees what kinds of work or interaction are worth gathering for, then agree on arrangements that account for team needs, role constraints and employee preferences. The NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research’s 2022 report synthesizes earlier research and surveys, noting that office preferences vary among demographic groups and that hybrid work may support belonging while leaving disparities unaddressed. It is useful context rather than a current global estimate of employee attitudes. Read the NIH report.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Build relationships across locations and review what is working
Social contact should not depend entirely on who happens to be at the office. Create recurring ways for colleagues across locations to interact, such as structured team discussions or proactive opportunities to connect. Sandia’s report identifies social disconnect as a concern in its research-center context, particularly for hires made after the pandemic began; it does not establish how prevalent that concern is across employers.
Best Value
- ALL-IN-ONE SPACE-SAVING DESIGN: This ultimate space-saving organizer brilliantly combines vertical file holders, horizontal letter trays, and a customizable drawer into one highly efficient unit, keeping all your essential office supplies right at your fingertips
- VERTICAL SORTERS & HORIZONTAL TRAYS: The upright vertical compartments perfectly hold file folders and binders, while the spacious horizontal trays offer the ideal flat storage space for notebooks, scissors, staplers, and larger desk accessories
- CUSTOMIZABLE DIVIDER DRAWER: The smooth-gliding bottom drawer includes three main sections and features six fully movable dividers, allowing you to instantly create the perfect custom compartments for organizing markers, sticky notes, paperclips, and small loose items
- DETACHABLE PEN BUCKET: This set includes a highly convenient, fully detachable side bucket that provides extra vertical storage space for tall items like pencils, rulers, erasers, and highlighters. Simply hook it onto the main frame or remove it completely based on your specific desk setup
- EXACT DIMENSIONS: Please measure your desk space before ordering. Overall Dimensions: 9"D x 13.2" W x 12" H (excluding pen bucket). Pen Bucket Dimensions: 5.5" D x 2.3" W x 3.3" H
Review the arrangements with employees rather than treating a fixed schedule as the sole solution. Ask whether people can contribute in meetings, find the context they need, build work relationships and access development opportunities. Then compare those experiences with assignment and review patterns. This is a practical way to apply the cited recommendations, not a review package validated by the studies.
- Access: Do employees in each location receive context, ways to participate and follow-up?
- Opportunity: Are work assignments, mentoring, feedback and decision access visible and fairly allocated?
- Purpose: Does in-person time support work or relationships that benefit from being together?
- Autonomy and fairness: Were arrangements discussed with the team and adapted to role constraints and employee needs?
- Review: Are managers checking both outcomes and employee experience rather than treating physical presence as a proxy for contribution?
These are decision criteria synthesized from recommendations and inclusion concerns in the cited sources, not a validated scoring tool. None of the sources establishes a guaranteed formula for preventing office cliques.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
