You’ve probably come across articles and social media posts discussing the recent “back to office” push, led by mega-corporations in different industries. Naturally, these mandates made headlines, and many employees viewed the shift as an abrupt change from the remote and hybrid policies that these organisations previously advertised.
At a glance, it may seem that remote and hybrid work is under threat. The dissatisfaction expressed by many employees online can also give the impression that workers are overwhelmingly against the back-to-office push.
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We set out to learn more about these possibilities and sentiments, and some of our findings may come as a surprise. After analysing trends data, survey-based research, and data about the state of work, we found that:
- Employees have conflicting sentiments towards the back-to-office push. While many workers prefer fully remote work arrangements, many also appreciate the option to return to the office. However, having some flexibility and control over working arrangements is a consistent sentiment amongst workers.
- Hybrid might be the way forward for Europe. European SMEs have remained committed to offering flexible work options, and governments are working on incentives and policies to encourage and facilitate remote and hybrid work.
- Remote work can help European businesses access more talent, but it can also increase competition. While European teams can build regional or even “global” teams with remote work, remote options are also increasing competition for top talent. Some European workers are pursuing offshore opportunities, mainly in North America, for higher salaries.
Here’s more on the trends shaping remote work.
7 Trends shaping remote work in 2024
1. Megacorps lead the push for back-to-office
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the push for back-to-office is being led by some of the world’s biggest corporations. Amazon issued a mandate for employees to transition back to working five days a week in the office from January 2025, while Disney and Salesforce pushed for “at least four” days.
The call for back-to-office isn’t limited to Big Tech, though. The Washington Post was also quick to issue a five-day return policy, while many banks such as HSBC and Barclays are rolling back some of their remote-friendly policies. ASDA, a British supermarket and petrol station chain, has also issued a back-to-office mandate.
Leaders at major corporations such as these have cited various reasons for the mandate, most of which broadly relate to challenges in managing remote workforces to perceived impacts on worker productivity.
However, some workers have responded to these policy shifts with serious resistance, by signing petitions, writing to their employers, and expressing their discontent on social media and with the press. Some employees even went as far as to strike.
2. Remote work remains resilient in SMEs
The back-to-office push by major corporations has dominated the news, giving the impression of a somewhat unified shift in work policy. Interestingly, though, data reveals that remote and hybrid work options remain resilient in the small-to-medium sized business sector.
LinkedIn’s Global State of Remote and Hybrid Work report, which analysed data from late 2023 to 2024, revealed that companies with less than 250 employees in Germany, the UK and the US, were responsible for the most new remote hires. Additionally, the most remote opportunities were shown to be in the IT and media sector, with the UK covering around 35% of these jobs and Germany being responsible for 26%.
3. Employee happiness remains unaddressed
Different studies reveal conflicting insights around work models and their association with burnout. For example, one survey revealed that almost 70% of remote employees experienced burnout from digital communication tools, while LinkedIn’s Workplace Confidence report revealed that around 8% more hybrid and on-site workers experienced burnout compared to fully remote ones.
Moreover, many studies that associate remote work with higher levels of burnout identify longer work hours, fatigue from communication tools, and weak work boundaries as culprits. These findings align with those from Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2024 report, which correlates employee stress with bad management practices.
The report revealed that workers at organisations with poor management practices are almost 60% more likely to be stressed than those working in environments with positive, engaged management practices.
According to an Oxford study, the key to addressing employee stress and burnout lies in making changes to the way people are managed in the organisation, which includes making improvements in “scheduling change, management practices, staff resources, or tailored job design.” Remote and on-site work may require different management styles and tools, but the shared goal is to address employee happiness.
4. Employers risk losing the talent war
While attracting and retaining talent is a global challenge, various surveys indicate that businesses in Europe are suffering disproportionately. For example, in one global survey, almost 30% more survey respondents from EU-based companies cited labour shortages as a challenge, compared to those in North America and Asia. Additionally, around 33% of the survey respondents didn’t view the EU as favourable for its talent availability.
Various factors contribute to Europe’s talent, including the EU’s approach to labour migration on a policy level, skills shortages, and global competition for top talent that has attracted EU workers to opportunities in other markets (many of which offer higher salaries).
Although businesses can’t directly resolve the EU’s labour woes, they can make themselves more attractive to top talent at the organisational level. One critical consideration for doing so is finding the right balance of flexibility in work schedules and hybrid or remote work options.
5. Hybrid gains ground in Europe
Although working-from-home levels aren’t as high as they were during the 2021 peak, they remained steady in 2023 after the dip in 2022 and increased in parts of Europe during 2024. Here are some key data points that reveal the state of hybrid work in Europe:
- One study found that over 40% of European job seekers would reject a job outright if it lacked remote options. However, another revealed that almost three-fourths of surveyed Europeans were looking forward to going back to the office, but they would like companies to invest in better-equipped spaces for collaboration.
These seemingly conflicting data points speak to a broader reality; while many workers see value in returning to the office, they’d like to maintain some flexibility (i.e., hybrid options). - Although all remote companies still aren’t the norm, one study found that over 40% of surveyed employers in Europe allow their employees to work from home for one or more days each week or month.
- LinkedIn’s Global State of Hybrid Work report revealed that, in December last year, 43% of positions in the UK were hybrid options. In France, 31% were, and the same percentage of jobs posted on LinkedIn In Germany were advertised as hybrid positions.
- The CIPD’s HR practices in Ireland report from last year revealed that 42% of businesses had their employees working in a hybrid format.
- Around 52% of the Netherlands’ workforce worked from home “sometimes or most of the time” last year.
6. Workers explore offshore opportunities
The rise of remote work has resulted in an interesting, albeit limited, change in Europe; some European workers are pursuing remote opportunities abroad (particularly in North America) to benefit from higher salaries. A recent report highlights how Europeans are working night shifts to cash in on U.S. salaries, with U.S. salaries on average being around 20-40% higher.
But it’s not all sunshine and roses—working for companies in different time zones and regions isn’t without its challenges. The trade-offs for Europeans taking up remote work in the U.S. include having to reevaluate their work-life balance, adjust to a different work culture, and ensure they have the right support at home.
So, what does this development mean for employers? At present, the number of European workers pursuing these opportunities is reportedly a low percentage of the workforce. However, the attractiveness of U.S. salaries and the existence of remote options contribute to Europe’s talent war; European businesses aren’t just competing with each other for the best but also with offshore companies.
7. Policy developments
Government support, in terms of infrastructure, incentives, and policies, significantly influences the success of remote work at the national level. For example, investing in the development of high-speed internet, revising labour laws to accommodate remote employees and employers, and issuing directives for maintaining work life balance, are policy decisions that can collectively influence a country’s remote work trajectory.
The European Parliament is currently exploring drafting laws around the “right to disconnect”—that is, employees' right not to respond to work communications outside work hours. European countries are also exploring or implementing laws and policies that affect remote working relationships, such as costs employers are required to bear (e.g., for employees using their own equipment), and the duration and frequency of telework.
Preparing for the future of work: Critical considerations
1. Culture and work-life balance
On average, employee stress levels and burnout are considerably high globally, independent of the mode of work. As Gallup’s findings highlighted, management practices play a defining role in employee well-being.
The symptoms of poor practices may differ depending on the mode of work—e.g., it could mean creating an atmosphere where remote workers feel the need to work extra hours—but the root cause remains the same. Unfair treatment and policies, favouritism, unrealistic expectations, extensive workloads, and poor communication are some common contributors to employee stress.
Thus, employers should carefully consider how employees are managed at the organisational level and what can be done to improve their well-being. For organisations implementing hybrid or fully remote options, this also means ensuring company policies and management practices facilitate the well-being of people working from home.
2. Productivity management and collaboration
Companies offering flexible work models—whether fully remote or hybrid—need to ensure they have the right systems, tools, and culture in place to help employees collaborate effectively and stay productive. In hybrid and remote settings, critical considerations for achieving these goals include:
- Navigating work-life balance, such as by ensuring employees don’t feel compelled to work overtime, and not expecting them to respond to communication outside work hours. Europe’s policy developments are influencing the push for work-life balance at the regional level.
- Balancing asynchronous and synchronous communication. Synchronous communication is more natural to the way humans interact—i.e., in real-time, such as in-person, on a video call, or via messages.
And while it has an important role to play in workplace communication, so do asynchronous forms of interactions–i.e., ones that don’t occur in real-time (think tagging someone in a project management system, dropping an update message, or sending a Loom video).
For remote and hybrid teams, async communication helps team members collaborate on their own time and schedules, encouraging productivity and work-life balance. For businesses looking to build regional teams across different time zones, async comms is key.
3. Regulatory and legal considerations
For remote and hybrid work, existing regulations and developing policies impact both:
- Your hiring and contracts. Legal and tax implications may differ if you’re hiring employees remotely from other regions, so it’s important to look into them beforehand.
- Policies for dealing with employees. Existing and developing policies—such as the “right to disconnect” that the European Parliament is considering drafting laws around—will govern the way employers and employees communicate and work.
In 2025, European businesses should continue to closely monitor policy developments and adapt proactively.
4. Remote or hybrid?
As a consequence of the global pandemic, businesses globally were compelled to rapidly adopt remote work models. While the shift was abrupt and came with many challenges, it also helped businesses and employees alike realise the benefits of different work models.
And while businesses today might not be sold on fully remote work, it’s clear that Europe has rapidly embraced hybrid work. Moving forward, employers will need to consider the best work options depending on organisational needs and employee expectations.
5. Adopting the right infrastructure
At the national level, investments in infrastructure develop the country’s remote readiness across the board. Internet speeds increased significantly across Europe in 2023, helping people stay more connected and improving the prospects for remote work, and the European Commission has announced ambitious goals for improving connectivity by 2030.
At the organisation level, adopting the right infrastructure means selecting tools to help employees manage work, communications, and productivity. For example, you might use Slack for communication, Caflou to manage projects, customer relationships and finances, and Loom for screen recordings. The right software that reflects how your team works helps keep employees engaged; teams with high employee engagement are linked to high profitability and productivity, less turnover, and less absenteeism.
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