Many office occupiers have accepted current attendance rates as the new normal, but more than half of corporate leaders want to boost attendance in the coming year.
Two-thirds of survey respondents to CBRE and Corenet’s global survey of 198 corporate real estate professionals said they expect employees to be in the office at least three days per week, which is similar to last year’s survey. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they are trying to align attendance levels with current policy while 36% said they plan to move toward a less hybrid policy.
The survey found employers are concerned that sporadic and unpredictable office attendance may negatively impact relationship building, cross-team collaboration and cultural connectivity. However, only one-quarter of respondents said current office attendance levels hamstring productivity.
Recommended For You
Fifty-seven percent of respondents cited commute time as a barrier to achieving more frequent office attendance, while only 16% thought office location was a barrier. A separate CBRE survey said office workers prefer a commute time of 30 minutes or less. In addition to offering flexible working hours to help mitigate long commute times, occupiers also are taking proximity to public transit, on-site car parking and electric vehicle charging stations into account when selecting buildings.
An even bigger barrier, however, is a lack of a mandated policy or enforcement of existing policies. CBRE said that while half of employers have attendance mandates, only 17% said these mandates are being actively enforced.
Many corporate leaders are looking to people-focused change management strategies to drive higher office attendance, and expecting company leaders to act as role models was the top strategy. Employers are also implementing manager training to align teams with attendance expectations and offering increased social and event programming.
Employers also are considering taking a more targeted approach to office attendance expectations, as blanket attendance policies may result in a mismatch between employer expectations and employee behavior. More than half said their attendance expectations vary based on employee role and tenure, and the majority of employers expect managers, new employees and client-facing employees to be in the office.
Nearly two-thirds of employers said they are changing the design of the workplace to accommodate new working patterns. This includes adding more amenities and activity-based spaces rather than dedicated workstations. Forty-percent are looking to relocate to a better building while 45% plan to upgrade services and amenities in existing buildings. However, insufficient capital to reconfigure existing space or relocate to higher-quality space is hindering those efforts for many employers.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Kristen Smithberg
Kristen Smithberg is a Colorado-based freelance writer who covers commercial real estate, insurance, benefits and retirement topics for BenefitsPRO and other industry publications.
