During the pandemic, Parkinson's Law, the idea that work expands to fill the time allotted, became evident. The time saved by not commuting quickly morphed into more video calls. That hasn’t changed post-pandemic. We now endure the worst of both worlds: long commutes and back-to-back virtual meetings. While companies have invested heavily in physical and digital environments, some are finally realising that true workplace experience must be holistic and account for how work is actually being done.
When offices first reopened, companies tried to lure employees back with perks like pizza Fridays, live music, and even financial incentives. But these only led to temporary bumps in attendance. For most, a two- or three-day office rhythm has become the new normal. Yet some organisations are mandating five days a week, using threats and sanctions. Unsurprisingly, many employees are leaving for companies with more flexible hybrid policies1. There are even anecdotes of colleagues swiping in for each other to fake office attendance.
Why this insistence on an unpopular policy? For companies like JP Morgan and Laing O’Rourke, whose assets are deeply tied to real estate, remote work may feel like an existential threat. Meanwhile, underutilised offices - often busy only from Tuesday to Thursday - raise questions about the very purpose of the office. Companies like Manchester United, Boots, and ASOS cite falling productivity and loss of culture as reasons for their return mandates. But culture and productivity are not inherently tied to physical presence. Remote-first companies like GitLab and Atlassian show that both can thrive without daily office attendance. The real issue isn’t where work is done, it’s that work itself has become more intense and unmanageable.
Employees are disengaged and burning out. Mental Health UK2 reported that one in three adults now experiences extreme stress, with 18–24-year-olds suffering the most. It’s not surprising given that the number of meetings has tripled since 20203. According to MHFAUK, only 17% of employees feel motivated to go to work each day, and 22% of
junior managers (our future leaders) say they never feel inspired4. With back-to-back meetings, people catch up on actual work in the evenings or even during calls. Digital tools meant to ease our lives have instead left us ‘always on’, juggling multiple channels and drowning in tasks.
Many companies invested in redesigning physical office spaces post-Covid, creating attractive environments with impressive collaboration and hospitality. But within a year, many had to convert them back into solo-working zones because the nature of work hadn’t changed. Workers couldn’t shake the confines of their video call schedules.
It’s time to overhaul how we work. Poorly run meetings remain a major drain, with 35% considered a waste of time. Amazon’s use of strict agendas and pre-reads is one model, but the bigger question is: are all these meetings even necessary? Many updates can be delivered through concise emails and if you're not contributing, do you even need to attend? Reviewing weekly meeting diaries, setting shorter default durations (e.g., 50 minutes instead of an hour), and establishing meeting-free day, such as HSBC’s Zoom-free Fridays, can give people breathing space and support deep work. Blocking out concentration time can be highly effective when done collectively.
More radically, the four-day workweek is being trialled to boost productivity and reduce burnout. The charity sector, often unable to offer high salaries, has embraced it to attract and retain talent. The UK pilot found that 71% of participants had reduced burnout, 39% felt less stressed, and companies saw slight increases in both productivity and revenue5. With just four days, work had to be more focused, irrelevant meetings and inefficient tools simply had to go.
Despite growing interest in better work design, our methods for measuring workplace experience remain inadequate. Current metrics, like attendance rates, space utilisation, or sentiment surveys, are too blunt to capture the full picture. Newer attempts to track workplace ‘vibe’ or ‘buzz’ often end up being proxies for density. But some workplace-focused companies are building more sophisticated models that combine multiple data points into a meaningful workplace experience metric. This could enable better comparisons across large office portfolios and guide improvements grounded in real employee experience.
Ultimately, the future of work isn’t about perks or mandates. It’s about rethinking how work happens. If companies want productivity, engagement, and retention, they must stop obsessing over presence and start designing work around people; their time, energy, and focus. Cutting unnecessary meetings, enabling flexible work and using better metrics are just the beginning. Covid gave us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink work, not just where it happens, but how. If organisations ignore that, they won’t just lose productivity, they’ll lose their people.