Adaptive Spaces

2024–2025 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights

This five-part series offers timely guidance for organizations seeking to align their workplace with business goals and corporate culture.

June 11, 2025 5 Minute Read

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Hybrid work has sparked a balancing act between employers and employees, with the goal of creating effective workplaces that satisfy both parties’ needs. The 2024-2025 CBRE Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights emphasize essential aspects: effective versus efficient metrics, strategic hybrid programs, the role of physical spaces and the transformative power of technology and AI. Taken together, these reveal a comprehensive approach to creating productive and satisfying work environments. This five-part series explores trends across major office occupiers, providing valuable insights for organizations seeking to align their workplaces with business needs and cultural objectives.

Part 1: Companies prefer metrics that measure effectiveness, rather than efficiency

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Organizations are increasingly prioritizing workplace experience as a crucial factor in real estate success. Effectiveness is now more important than efficiency as a success indicator. Employee satisfaction has risen 75% in client rankings this year, eclipsing traditional metrics like density, which dropped by 67% over four years. The pandemic highlighted the need for balance between employer and employee needs, but in 2024 the focus on creating productive and mutually beneficial workplaces is more crucial than ever.

Part 2 & 3: What do the most effective hybrid programs have in common?

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In parts 2 and 3, we explore how effective workplaces require strategic hybrid programs, which have increased in adoption by 30% over the past four years. In 2024, 92% of surveyed clients use a hybrid work model. We examine characteristics of the most popular hybrid policies: leadership expectations versus employee behaviors, mandates versus incentives and policy impact on talent retention.

Part 4: Effective work environments balance focus space and collaborative design trends

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Physical aspects of the workplace are critical and complement effectiveness. To learn whether individual workspace is still shrinking in favor of collaboration space, we explore space composition trends, investigate current and forecast workplace design concepts, discuss how emerging personas are shaping the workplace and reveal a shift in portfolio rightsizing.

Part 5: AI is key to an effective technology strategy

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Part 5 showcases the practical application of powerful and influential technology. We discuss AI integration trends, tech’s increasing value to hybrid work and how compelling technology can optimize portfolios and improve workplace experiences. Increasingly, data points to effective technology being vital for productive workplaces.

Perspective 1: Regional insights

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Delve into changes in workplace portfolios, space utilization and occupancy trends across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. The article discusses trends in occupancy and utilization rates, revealing how companies are adapting to new workplace norms and making portfolio changes.

Perspective 2: Industry sector insights

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This article examines the evolving landscape of space utilization across various industry sectors. Data indicates that while some sectors, such as Technology, Media & Telecommunications, have been pioneers in adopting flexible workplace solutions, other sectors are catching up.

Perspective 3: Generational insights on modern workplaces

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Read two different generational viewpoints from CBRE's Bonny Wong, a Generation Z Senior Strategist, and Nic Smith, a seasoned baby boomer leader, as they discuss three critical questions that have emerged from our insight series:

  • What attracts people into the office?
  • How can the workplace better support successful in-office experiences?
  • How should workplace effectiveness be measured?

Perspective 4: Outlook

The final article in the series provides a forward-looking perspective on occupancy strategies for 2025 and beyond. As the emphasis on effective workplace metrics continues to grow, we explore the evolving dynamics between employee satisfaction and strategic real estate decisions, setting the stage for innovative workplace environments that prioritize collaboration and productivity.

Methodology

The 2024-2025 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights summarize four years of office benchmarking and sentiment surveys on how CBRE clients have adapted their office environments since 2021. The study examines global data from select CBRE clients representing 375 million sq. ft./35 million sq. m. and delivers insights by portfolio size, industry/sector and region/geography.

This year, insights will be presented in five parts, followed by four articles that provide perspective.

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