The death of working from home

Five charts to start your day

During Covid, working from home was liberating. I could structure my workday the way I wanted, spending more time with family or going for a run in the afternoon. For those initial months, it was amazing.

Yet the novelty soon wore off. Isolation crept in, severing me from the world I once knew. I yearned for Zürich’s energy: rumbling trams, bustling streets, even grey mornings seemed on a rainy day in the city seemed attractive. I missed coffee catch-ups with co-workers and spontaneous office conversations.

Both extremes prove unsustainable. Complete remote work leaves you disconnected, while five days in the office feels exhausting. The sweet spot is a hybrid model.

That’s what this first chart today is about.

CHART 1 • The death of working from home

The data confirms that hybrid working has become our new reality. Remote work now accounts for 30% of paid workdays, seven times pre-2019 levels, and this shift appears permanent. The hybrid model succeeds because it solves both problems: eliminating soul-destroying commutes while preserving face-to-face collaboration when it matters most.

This transformation is reshaping entire sectors. The winners are predictable: cloud providers, cybersecurity firms, video platforms, and delivery services are thriving. Suburban office parks are seeing renewed interest as companies decentralise. The losers are equally clear. City centre landlords are struggling with plummeting occupancy rates and refinancing crises. Urban transport systems and lunchtime cafés have lost much of their customer base overnight.

Cities now face a stark choice: slash taxes to tempt businesses back, or accept this new landscape. Even with incentives, the old patterns won’t return. We’ve moved into an era where workplace flexibility has become non-negotiable. Companies that resist this change will lose talent to those embracing it. The question is no longer whether hybrid working will survive, but how quickly organisations can adapt to make it work.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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