Hybrid work is now not a short lived adjustment. It’s the everlasting working mannequin for enterprise organisations.
That shift has modified the position of the workplace. In 2026, the problem isn’t imposing attendance, however designing an workplace expertise that hybrid staff actively select over working from house.
To know what drives that selection, UC At present analysed findings from 5 main, ungated trade reviews from Gartner, EY, Microsoft, JLL, and Deloitte.
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Cisco: Hybrid Work Is Shifting Towards the Workplace – However Expertise Is Falling Brief
Cisco – 2025 International Hybrid Work Research
The issue Cisco identifies
The research reveals that hybrid work isn’t disappearing, however it’s evolving. Extra organisations expect staff to spend time within the workplace, but the workplace expertise itself has not stored tempo with these expectations.
The report finds that hybrid preparations have declined, whereas workplace mandates have elevated, with 72% of respondents saying their group has in-office necessities. Nonetheless, Cisco makes it clear that know-how is a limiting think about whether or not these workplace days really feel productive.
Cisco states plainly that:
“Expertise is an enabler however not assembly expectations.”
A core challenge is inconsistency. Workers transfer between house, workplace, and assembly rooms, but instruments, workflows, and experiences usually change with location. Cisco highlights that:
“Lower than half (49%) of staff imagine their organisation helps them with constant instruments and processes to work successfully from any location.”
For enterprise groups, this inconsistency erodes the worth of the workplace. When conferences fail to start out cleanly, audio and video fluctuate by room, or workflows really feel fragmented, commuting turns into a further burden slightly than a profit.
The answer Cisco factors towards
Cisco’s analysis factors towards expertise consistency because the defining requirement of recent workplace technique.
The research reveals that organisations are prioritising applied sciences that immediately assist hybrid collaboration, together with:
“Assembly rooms able to hybrid classes (50%)” and “digital whiteboards and interactive shows (55%).”
This displays a recognition that sensible rooms are actually core infrastructure, not elective enhancements. Cisco additionally underscores why this issues, noting that:
“On common, 40% of interactions within the workplace have at the least one particular person becoming a member of remotely.”
Workplace relevance in 2026 depends upon dependable, interoperable assembly environments that make in-person collaboration smoother and extra inclusive than working from house. Learn extra about one of the best distributors to allow this right here.
Gensler: Workplaces Should Align With Actual Work Modes to Compete With House
Gensler Analysis Institute – International Office Survey 2025
The issue Gensler identifies
Gensler’s 2025 International Office Survey frames the return-to-office problem as a design and expertise mismatch, slightly than an attendance challenge.
The analysis finds that whereas staff nonetheless worth in-person work, many places of work should not designed to assist how work really occurs at the moment. Gensler emphasises that:
“Human connection and collective work are elementary components of getting work carried out.”
On the identical time, work patterns are altering. Gensler reviews that:
“Time spent working with others in-person continues to extend whereas working alone continues to steadily lower.”
But many workplaces nonetheless prioritise particular person desks over collaboration-ready areas, or fail to equip assembly rooms to assist hybrid participation successfully. This disconnect weakens the case for coming into the workplace.
The answer Gensler factors towards
Gensler’s analysis advocates a work-modes-first method to workplace technique — designing environments round what folks really are available to do.
The report explains that its aim is:
“To uncover what staff worth most, what they want from the workplace/work setting.”
And its conclusion is specific:
“At present’s workplaces should evolve with worker work patterns.”
For enterprise organisations, this reinforces the position of office expertise know-how and sensible rooms in aligning house with behaviour. Assembly rooms, collaboration zones, and shared areas should be geared up to assist collective work seamlessly – with dependable AV, intuitive reserving, and constant collaboration platforms.
On this mannequin, know-how turns into the bridge between house design and work outcomes, serving to the workplace compete with house by enabling the interactions that matter most. Learn extra about assembly fairness in our article.
EY: Workers Have interaction When Work Environments Allow Efficiency
EY — Work Reimagined Survey
The issue EY identifies
EY’s analysis reveals that worker expectations have shifted quicker than many office methods.
EY observes that work is changing into:
“More and more disconnected from outdated concepts of profession, rewards and workplaces.”
Whereas not centered solely on workplace attendance, EY’s findings spotlight a core challenge: staff disengage from environments — bodily or digital — that gradual them down or add friction.
The answer EY factors towards
EY’s analysis reinforces the significance of office enablement, together with:
Expertise that helps productiveness slightly than interrupts it
Constant experiences throughout areas and work modes
Environments designed round outcomes, not presence
Utilized to the workplace, this helps funding in return-to-office know-how that removes friction and allows efficiency.
JLL: With out Knowledge, Workplaces Can’t Adapt to Hybrid Work
JLL – International Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report 2025
The issue JLL identifies
JLL highlights a structural problem in hybrid workplaces: organisations usually lack visibility into how places of work are literally used.
As hybrid work disrupts predictable attendance patterns, legacy assumptions about desks, assembly rooms, and collaboration areas now not maintain.
With out information, leaders can not establish what works – or what drives staff away.
Within the report, JLL states that:
“Knowledge has develop into the important think about understanding how house is used and the way workplaces carry out.”
This lack of visibility creates danger. With out correct utilisation and behavior information, organisations wrestle to establish which areas assist collaboration, which sit unused, and which actively undermine worker expertise.
The answer JLL highlights
JLL factors to elevated adoption of office expertise know-how, enabling organisations to:
Measure desk and assembly room utilisation
Perceive reserving behaviour and peak demand
Redesign areas based mostly on actual utilization patterns
Main organisations are utilizing occupancy information to optimise house whereas bettering worker expertise.
This data-driven method helps organisations align house, know-how, and expertise, making places of work extra attentive to hybrid employee wants.
Deloitte: Workplace Funding Should Show Measurable Worth
Deloitte – International Human Capital Traits 2025
The issue Deloitte identifies
Deloitte’s analysis highlights mounting strain on leaders to justify office and know-how funding with measurable outcomes.
In hybrid environments, conventional metrics like attendance alone now not reveal worth. Apparently, a central theme of the report is that conventional metrics now not mirror how work will get carried out. Deloitte states:
Organizations are being pushed to give attention to outcomes slightly than outputs.
In hybrid environments, this creates a problem for workplace technique. Measuring success by attendance or time on-site fails to seize whether or not office funding is definitely bettering collaboration, productiveness, or worker expertise.
The answer Deloitte encourages
Re-architect work, the workforce, and the office to ship worth in a boundaryless world.
Utilized to workplace attendance technique, this implies linking bodily areas and return-to-office know-how to measurable outcomes comparable to collaboration high quality, engagement, and retention.
Deloitte emphasises linking funding to outcomes comparable to:
Productiveness and collaboration effectiveness
Worker expertise and engagement
Retention and expertise attraction
This reinforces the necessity for workplace attendance technique grounded in proof — supported by sensible rooms, analytics, and expertise information.
How Sensible Rooms and Office Expertise Help Workplace Attendance
Taken collectively, these reviews level to a transparent position for know-how in bringing hybrid staff again to the workplace:
Sensible assembly rooms that assist inclusive, dependable hybrid collaboration
Constant UC platforms throughout rooms and areas
Office expertise know-how that gives perception into house use and behavior
Analytics and reporting that hyperlink workplace funding to enterprise outcomes
Expertise alone isn’t the answer — however with out it, expertise can not scale.
Ultimate Takeaway: Hybrid Employees Return When the Workplace Delivers Worth
Throughout Gartner, Microsoft, EY, JLL, and Deloitte, the conclusion is constant:
Hybrid staff come again to the workplace when it allows higher work than house — supported by sensible rooms, low-friction know-how, and measurable outcomes.
In 2026, profitable organisations deal with the workplace as a strategic asset, not a mandate. Attendance follows when folks, processes, and know-how align round actual worth.
Discover UC At present’s information to office tech right here.
