The hybrid holding pattern: why current workplace models are just the beginning
27th August 2025
Hybrid workplaces were meant to be the new normal. In truth, it feels more like an intermission. Three days here, four days there. It looks tidy on a slide deck but feels improvised on the ground. Patterns shift month to month as organisations test what really works.
One week the instruction is to cut space by 20 percent. By the next it’s to make the office so good that staff want to come back. Facilities teams are left trying to reconcile aims that rarely sit comfortably together.
Three bets, not one answer
We are seeing three distinct approaches.
Some firms are chasing efficiency. A City firm stripped out half its desks and put in shared desking with a smart booking tool. On paper it works. Occupancy rates look better, but partners noticed a side effect: people no longer sit with the same colleagues. Productivity is still being evaluated.
Others invest in allure. A Shoreditch tech company fitted out wellness rooms, quality catering, and high-end AV. Staff like it. The office feels busy again, but the finance director is less enthusiastic. The cost per head has gone up.
A third group is experimenting with distributed hubs. One bank trialled sites in Reading and Croydon to shorten commutes. Recruitment improved, but security and IT headaches followed. New compliance systems had to be built from scratch.
Designing for what, exactly?
Here’s the real challenge. Nobody knows what the steady state will be. The strongest projects are not trying to fix hybrid once and for all. They are creating conditions that can flex as patterns change.
Adaptability today looks different from the old rhetoric about movable furniture. It means digital systems that flex with occupancy, booking platforms that help manage flow, and building services that run efficiently whether the space is a third full or near capacity. It means materials and finishes that maintain their appeal under unexpected wear, rooms that feel purposeful whether used for quiet study or fast collaboration, and layouts that can absorb new technologies without a major overhaul. Effective design is shifting from creating a single solution to providing a framework that can carry several possible futures.
The longer view
The lesson is simple. Offices can no longer be treated as finished products. They must be frameworks, able to carry different ways of working as behaviour shifts. Five years from now, the word hybrid may already feel dated. What people will remember is the workplace experiment that touched every sector. And the fit outs that prove most valuable will be the ones designed to move with the tide, not resist it.
