CEE offices are filling up. Measurement hasn't caught up.

The return worked — and then some

Bringing people back has broadly worked. A quarter of companies now report average utilisation in the healthy 61–80% band, up from 14%, and one in ten report 81–100% — a band nobody occupied last year. Fewer than 30% still sit at 40% or below.

Size helps: among companies with 1,000+ employees, 80% report utilisation above 41%. They also communicate more and measure with more tools.

The peak is where it turns. Companies whose busiest day reaches 81–100% have climbed from 26% to 35% — past comfortable. Earlier rightsizing has left some offices near overcrowded on peak days while the weekly average still looks modest.

Steering by badge swipe

The tools tell a plainer story. A third measure utilisation with badge swipes; more than a quarter with someone walking the floor and counting. Fewer than one in ten use occupancy sensors or network data — the tools that show which spaces get used, when, and by whom.

Badge data confirms attendance. It cannot tell you the focus rooms sit empty while every small meeting room is double-booked. Without that, repurposing space stays guesswork.

What is asked for, what is wanted, what happens

The survey separates three things most organisations blur: the policy communicated, the behaviour targeted, and the attendance achieved. Side by side, the slippage shows.

Companies target office-first behaviour from 21% but communicate it to only 11% — and 11% turn up that way. At the other end, 13% are told they can be mostly remote; 26% end up working that way.

Half the office-first companies communicate something more permissive than they target. The support that would close the gap is largely absent: 77% run no change and communications programme, fewer than one in five invest in hybrid technology or training, and a quarter apply none of the common measures.

Real estate teams want experience, and measure attendance

Asked what they are working towards, CEE real estate teams put improving workplace experience first (57%), ahead of cost savings and utilisation. Longer-horizon work sits at the bottom: future-of-work strategy and hybrid programmes on 11%, space data accuracy 9%, technology strategy 4%. Most are still solving this quarter.

What they track has shifted with it. Employee satisfaction now ties with utilisation as the most-tracked metric, both on 55%, ahead of show-up rate (49%) and attrition (28%). Cost per seat, density and sharing ratio trail behind. These teams have started measuring people, not just floors — though 11% track none of it.

Two camps, pulling apart

The clearest finding is that CEE has split into two roughly equal groups.

Legacy organisations — mostly under 500 employees, in brick-and-mortar sectors — treat the office as corporate infrastructure and lean office-first. Their communication works: turnout tracks targets closely. Many still allocate dedicated desks, and 29% have no hybrid policy.

Progressive organisations — technology, financial services, energy, life sciences — treat the office as a community space. They are far more likely to give everyone the same remote allowance (61% against 20%) and to share workstations. They also miss their own attendance targets, communicating more office time than they can achieve.

Both camps agree on one thing: collaborating in person is the biggest reason to have an office — and the only purpose where company and employee views line up exactly.

Everywhere else they diverge. Companies want the office to transmit culture; employees want somewhere to see colleagues, concentrate and get a decent lunch. Both are legitimate. Neither is served by a policy nobody measures.

Based on CBRE's CEE State of the Workplace Survey 2025, CBRE Research, July 2025. More than 50 companies across Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and South-East Europe.