Back in 2020 we were hearing: office space is dead, long live remote work. Things will never go back to the 2019 status quo.
In September 2022, in the UK, the ‘Back to school’ week became also the ‘Back to the office’ week. The average office occupancy reached its highest peak since the pandemic – 31%.
Fast forward to the US, march 2025, according to Kastle and their Back to Work Barometer, the occupancy rate in the workplace rose to 63.1%. The data tracks the occupancy of 2,600 buildings, 41,000 businesses, across 10 cities in the US.
Meanwhile, in Europe, in 2024, 27% of men employees were working hybrid. 22% of the women employed were working hybrid.
When it comes to fully remote work, there’s been a decrease from 31% to 7% for men, in between 2020 and 2024. In the case of women, the decrease went from 37% to 10%.
This leaves 66% of men and 68% of women working office-only. The data is very similar to the one from the US.
Now, these are the realities of the workplace. But, there’s a disconnect we’re seeing, between workplace flexibility capabilities and employee preferences. And this presents a challenge for organizations trying to balance operational needs with workforce satisfaction in the post-pandemic work environment.
The desire to work exclusively from home has risen since 2020, from 13% to 24% in 2024, and the proportion who would like to work from home multiple times a week remains over 50%.
What’s going on?
The COVID-19 pandemic has broken through cultural and technological barriers that prevented remote work in the past. It redefined the status quo in a lot of industries. But now that COVID-19 pressure has diminished, many employers are requiring their employees to get back to the office.
Now, some questions arise:
- Why do employers want their employees to return to office?
- Why don’t the employees want to get back to the office?
- How can employers and employees meet midway through?
- Hybrid work or flexibility in the workplace?
- How to craft a smart return to office strategy?
- How can technology help?
We’ll answer all these questions in the current guide.
The people behind the back-to-office strategies have a great responsibility on their shoulders: ensuring a flexible comeback that will consider employees’ creativity, productivity, and wellbeing. This guide is here to help.