The sudden, intense heatwave gripping much of Europe this summer has done more than strain air conditioning units and test the endurance of commuters; it has starkly illuminated the evolving complexities of modern workplace management. As temperatures soared, a predictable ripple effect transformed how employees interact with their work environments. Commute decisions were re-evaluated, the rhythms of meeting room bookings shifted, previously overlooked quiet zones became prime real estate for focused work, and facilities management teams found themselves in a constant battle to maintain comfort while grappling with escalating energy demands. While these climatic disruptions may be transient, they serve as a potent reminder of a fundamental truth: our workplaces are far more dynamic and adaptable than traditional design paradigms often acknowledge. The notion that people utilize offices in a uniform manner, day in and day out, week after week, or season after season, is increasingly becoming an outdated assumption. Many of the decisions shaping the future of our office spaces continue to be predicated on these dated assumptions, rather than on a nuanced understanding of contemporary work behaviours.
This challenge is particularly pronounced across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. Unlike other global areas, hybrid working models in EMEA are evolving in a remarkably diverse and sometimes contradictory manner. Organizations are navigating a complex tapestry of distinct labor markets, deeply ingrained cultural norms, varying regulatory frameworks, and a wide spectrum of employee expectations. This intricate landscape makes the application of a singular, universally applicable blueprint for workplace design an increasingly untenable proposition. Hybrid working is no longer a nascent experiment; it has definitively moved beyond that phase. However, it has not yet settled into a singular, predictable, or easily defined model. Over the past several years, organizations throughout the EMEA region have been engaged in a profound redefinition of their workplace policies, a re-evaluation of the fundamental role of the physical office, and substantial investments in environments meticulously crafted to foster collaboration, stimulate creativity, and champion employee wellbeing. While this period has undoubtedly triggered one of the most significant workplace redesigns in recent decades, it simultaneously compels us to confront an uncomfortable and critical question: are we designing our workplaces around the realities of how people actually work, or are we clinging to assumptions about how we think they work?
Designing for Behavior, Not Just Attendance
The profound structural changes currently unfolding across the EMEA region serve as a compelling illustration of the scale of this ongoing transformation. A recent comprehensive analysis, the EMEA Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report, has revealed significant shifts in workplace configurations. The report indicates that a substantial 47 percent of organizations are actively increasing the number of phone booths within their office spaces. Concurrently, nearly a third are prioritizing the addition of more dedicated focus rooms. This trend reflects a broader move towards flexible and activity-based working, where shared workstations are steadily replacing traditional dedicated desks, and the once ubiquitous private office continues its gradual but discernible decline. These are not arbitrary adjustments; they represent logical and pragmatic responses to a workforce that no longer adheres to the historical model of spending every workday completing individual tasks from a single, assigned desk. Today’s office is increasingly expected to be a multifaceted environment that equally supports collaboration, deep concentration, continuous learning, and the vital cultivation of professional relationships.
However, while the physical infrastructure of our workplaces is undergoing rapid alteration, the ways in which employees utilize these spaces continue to evolve with equally swift momentum. Across the EMEA region, a notable 60 percent of employees now report attending the office between three and five days each week. This statistic suggests that hybrid working has, for many, settled into a more structured and predictable pattern than was observed in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. Yet, a closer examination of this headline figure reveals a distinctly regional narrative. Almost one in three employees still opts for a more limited office presence, attending only once or twice a week. This heterogeneity is further underscored by national-level data, with the United Kingdom, for instance, averaging just 2.8 office days per week, falling below the global average of 3.2. The attendance patterns across EMEA exhibit a far wider variance than in any other global region, ranging from fewer than two office days per week in some markets to more than four in others. The era of a single, monolithic European model for hybrid working has demonstrably passed, and this inherent diversity significantly amplifies the complexity of effective workplace design.
This escalating complexity is directly reflected in the actual performance metrics of office buildings. EMEA stands as the sole global region where office utilization has experienced a year-on-year decline, now standing at a mere 55 percent, despite organizations having set ambitious targets of 75 percent utilization. The gap between actual and targeted utilization has, alarmingly, widened rather than narrowed. This trend indicates that the primary challenge is no longer simply about coaxing employees back into the office. Instead, it has fundamentally shifted to understanding precisely how today’s workplaces are being utilized in practice and, critically, whether these spaces are effectively supporting the diverse array of activities for which employees are choosing to come in.
These are not academic questions; they hold significant weight because workplace design has evolved into a long-term strategic investment decision. Organizations are making substantial choices about reshaping their real estate portfolios, undertaking extensive building refurbishments, and reallocating valuable space based on their prevailing beliefs about how employees wish to work. These decisions will inevitably shape the employee experience for years to come. Yet, paradoxically, they are often informed by what are essentially snapshots of behavior, rather than by a continuous, nuanced understanding of how workplaces function and are used over extended periods. A meeting room that appears perpetually impossible to book might, in reality, sit empty for substantial portions of the day simply because employees reserve it "just in case." Similarly, collaboration spaces may seem heavily utilized because demand peaks for very short, intense periods, while quieter, more focused environments might appear underutilized not due to a lack of need, but because they are poorly located, difficult to navigate, or not intuitively understood by staff. Without a clear comprehension of the distinction between perceived usage and actual, sustained behavior, even the most well-intentioned design decisions carry a significant and unnecessary element of risk.
From Instinct to Insight: The Data-Driven Workplace
Perhaps the most salient indicator that organizations are beginning to recognize the magnitude of this challenge lies in the discernible shift in their stated priorities. Over the past twelve months, the integration of utilization data into the planning process has surged from being the sixth highest priority to the undisputed number one occupancy planning priority across the EMEA region. This elevated importance significantly outranks that of any other region globally. Closely following, the improvement of reporting mechanisms has ascended to the second-highest priority. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that workplace leaders are actively transitioning away from making critical decisions based on intuition and anecdotal evidence, and are instead embracing a more evidence-based, data-driven approach.
This fundamental shift reflects a simple, undeniable reality. The future of effective workplace design can no longer rely solely on periodic employee surveys, informal anecdotal feedback, or infrequent, ad-hoc utilization studies. Organizations are increasingly demanding robust, reliable evidence that empowers them to understand precisely how different types of spaces perform under various conditions, how employee behaviors evolve over time, and whether significant workplace investments are genuinely delivering the intended strategic outcomes.
Extreme weather events, such as the record-breaking heatwaves experienced this past summer, serve to amplify and make more visible this pressing need for data. Changes in ambient temperature demonstrably influence commuting patterns, alter occupancy levels throughout the workday, and directly affect the way employees navigate and interact with a building’s various zones. Similar, though distinct, shifts in workplace usage patterns occur during school holidays, periods of significant public transport disruption, or in response to the intense pressures of major project deadlines. While the specific catalysts for these behavioral changes may differ significantly across EMEA’s diverse markets, the overarching conclusion remains consistent. Workplaces are not static structures; they are living, breathing environments that are continuously shaped by constantly fluctuating patterns of human behavior. This inherent dynamism makes the traditional practice of designing offices around fixed, unchanging assumptions increasingly untenable.
The Role of AI and the Imperative of Data Quality
The same principle of evidence-based decision-making extends to the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI), which is understandably generating considerable excitement across the real estate and facilities management industries. AI promises enhanced forecasting capabilities, more intelligent and proactive workplace planning, and the development of buildings that are significantly more responsive to user needs. However, organizations within the EMEA region are approaching the adoption of these advanced technologies with a justifiable degree of caution. Currently, only a modest 8 percent of organizations have progressed beyond the pilot program stage for AI implementation. Moreover, a concerning one in five organizations still does not routinely audit the accuracy of its occupancy data. This persistent issue of poor data quality remains one of the most significant impediments to the wider adoption of AI. It unequivocally reinforces a fundamental truth: intelligent workplaces depend on reliable, high-quality information before they can depend on intelligent technology.
For a considerable portion of the past five years, the discourse surrounding hybrid work has predominantly focused on the issue of attendance: specifically, how frequently employees are coming into the office and whether organizations should actively encourage them to spend more time there. Across EMEA, this particular conversation is increasingly feeling too narrow in scope and understanding. The more pertinent and strategically vital question is whether the physical workplace effectively supports the diverse array of activities for which employees are choosing to come into the office in the first place. In a region where the practical implementation and adoption of hybrid working models vary so markedly from one national market to the next, the design of successful and adaptable workplaces necessitates a far deeper and more granular understanding of actual employee behavior than has ever been required before.
The recent spell of intensely hot weather will undoubtedly pass, but the critical lessons it has provided to employers across the EMEA region should endure and be actively integrated into future planning. There is no universally applicable formula for designing the workplace of the future, primarily because there is no single, uniform pattern of workplace behavior that applies across the entire region. The organizations that are poised for success in this evolving landscape will be those that commit to a process of continuous learning, actively observing and analyzing how employees utilize their spaces. They will be the ones that demonstrate the agility to adapt their workplaces as behaviors naturally evolve, rather than continuing to rely on outdated assumptions and rigid, pre-conceived notions.
Peter Jones is Managing Director, Workplace Management EMEA, JLL.
