Office days
Consider direct access to colleagues and local support, shared desks, meeting-room devices, and different notification patterns.
For Hybrid Workplaces
Phishing Simulation Planning for Hybrid Workplaces
Hybrid employees switch between offices, homes, travel, shared desks, meeting rooms, cloud tools, and different ways of reaching colleagues and support.
A fair simulation should account for those changing conditions and teach a verification action that works both in person and remotely.
Remote-work scenarios • Device-aware planning • Trusted reporting • Contextual measurement
01Understand the environment
Design around how hybrid workplaces actually work
Start with the channels, devices, time zones, identities, and support routes involved in the selected workflow. Remote employees need a verification action they can complete without relying on the suspicious message or walking to a local help desk.
Remote days
Provide an independent digital or phone route when employees cannot confirm a request face to face.
Travel and mobile work
Use only approved channels and account for mobile mail clients, unfamiliar networks, and limited access to internal resources.
Managers and schedulers
Avoid using attendance, return-to-office, desk booking, or location tracking in ways that create distress or expose work arrangements.
02Choose the scenario
Use a recognizable remote request with a safe response
Give the scenario one learning objective and use fictional colleagues, organizations, projects, files, and incidents. Keep the campaign inside approved workplace channels and supported devices.
Desk-booking notice
Practice opening the normal workplace service independently using a fictional routine update rather than a disciplinary or attendance theme.
Meeting-room document
Ask employees to validate an invented organizer, meeting context, file owner, and destination.
Remote-access alert
Reinforce contacting the known support route rather than following an unexpected VPN or identity link.
Manager request
Practice independently confirming an unusual payment, document, or access request regardless of work location.
03Plan responsibly
Resolve device, timing, and support questions before launch
| Consideration | Question to answer | Required preparation |
|---|---|---|
| Location differences | Does the expected action work equally well in the office, at home, and while traveling? | Provide a location-independent reporting and verification route before testing the behavior. |
| Delivery fairness | Will office schedules create different opportunities to see, discuss, or report the message? | Record the planned working context and avoid direct comparison when conditions differ. |
| Shared spaces | Could a shared desk, meeting-room device, or unattended session affect attribution? | Pilot session handling and treat uncertain events as device or workflow observations. |
| Workplace sensitivity | Could the scenario imply attendance monitoring, forced relocation, or an employment action? | Use a neutral routine workflow and avoid distressing workplace themes. |
04Run the exercise
Move from an approved brief to remote follow-up
- 1
Define one behavior
State the request being tested, expected verification or reporting action, authorized audience, supported channels, and intended use of campaign events.
- 2
Confirm the trusted route
Make sure employees can independently reach the authentic service, directory, support contact, reporting tool, or manager from their normal location and device.
- 3
Pilot representative setups
Test supported devices, mail clients, browsers, accessibility tools, time zones, email controls, landing pages, reports, and follow-up material.
- 4
Brief distributed responders
Prepare security, IT, communications, managers, and providers to support the exercise while continuing to treat unrelated reports as real.
- 5
Debrief asynchronously
Provide a prompt explanation employees can access across schedules, offer a question route, and assign each workflow or control improvement to an owner.
Source: NIST Guide to Enterprise Telework, Remote Access, and BYOD Security
05Measure responsibly
Interpret results in remote-work context
Record intended recipients, exclusions, successful deliveries, unique recipient events, verified reports, response handling, and completed follow-up. Reconcile security-tool automation and repeated events before attributing activity to an employee.
Document planned work setting, time, device, delivery, reporting access, and support availability. Office and remote groups may not be comparable even when they receive the same message.
Use the review to improve reporting, identity, remote access, collaboration, device, provider, or support processes. One campaign interaction does not explain why a decision occurred and should not become an employee risk score.
Common questions
Common questions about Phishmake's features, onboarding, and support, answered to help you get started with confidence.
Should office and remote employees receive the message at the same time?
Only when support coverage and the learning objective make that appropriate. Equivalent staggered delivery may be fairer across schedules, but document timing before comparison.
Can a simulation use a return-to-office notice?
Avoid disciplinary, redundancy, relocation, accommodation, and contentious attendance themes. Use a routine low-stakes workflow that does not exploit employment concerns.
How should shared-desk events be attributed?
Do not assign an event to a person unless attribution is reliable. Use uncertain activity to assess session, device, and reporting processes instead.
What should hybrid-work reporting include?
Include counts, delivery, unique events, verified reports, follow-up, planned work setting, device, support availability, and limitations affecting interpretation.
Sources & further reading
Published by Phishmake · Updated
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