The Reason Hybrid Feels Flat in 2025
Everyone’s Back. So Why Does The Office Still Feel Empty?
The Illusion of Return
It’s a pattern many workplace leaders are seeing in 2025: offices have reopened, formal attendance targets have been met, peak occupancy is close to “normal.”
And yet—the space feels quiet. Fragmented. Flat.
Recently, Basking’s quarterly Global Benchmarks webinar zeroed in on one urgent question: how can offices become magnets for talent in 2025? The conversation featured guest speaker JanJaap Boogaard, Head of EMEA Workplace Advisory at Colliers, alongside Anjali Grover, Head of Data Analytics at Basking, and Basking CEO Eldar Gizzatov.
As they discussed Colliers’ 2025 Workplace Report, based in part on Basking’s real-time occupancy data, they explored a novel perspective: “Most offices today are not underutilized. They’re under-synchronized.”
Vibrancy: The Metric No One Talked About—Until Now
According to Colliers’ research, the office only starts to feel energetic once 50% or more of seats are occupied at the same time.
They call this benchmark the vibrant office, and it’s not about how many people show up—it’s about when they show up together.
“83% of office hours still fall below this threshold. The result is a space that’s technically in use, but functionally dormant.”
This threshold is where spontaneous collaboration becomes possible; where space stops being background and starts enabling performance.
Synchronization Beats Attendance
A compelling example in Colliers’ report highlights the value in considering liveliness alongside occupancy:
Reducing guaranteed workstations by 30% significantly reduces quiet office days, and vibrant days jump from 16% to 56%.
Same people. Same tools. But by aligning presence into more concentrated windows, it creates environments that feel alive.
This isn’t about adding people or perks, but rather concentrating the presence of existing teams into smarter, coordinated windows.
What drives that shift? Assigned desks add up to 1.3 more in-office days. Regular schedules add up to 1.1. Manager expectations contribute up to 0.9.
It’s not about enforcing more. It’s about coordinating better.
You Can’t Design for What You Don’t See
Here’s where real-time occupancy analytics make all the difference. Most teams today still rely on badge data, headcounts, or assumptions.
With live insights, however, companies can:
Spot quiet zones and inefficient time blocks
Not every hour is equal. Data reveals exactly when your space is underperforming—day by day, zone by zone—so you can eliminate costly dead time and wasted square footage.
Identify natural anchor days and team overlaps
Patterns emerge. You’ll see when specific teams already tend to show up, and when real cross-team interaction happens. That’s when you double down—not force new rules.
Plan shifts and gatherings around real presence, not guesses
Instead of guessing when people might be in, build schedules around actual usage trends. That means better events, better energy, and fewer blind spots in planning.
This is how strategy replaces trial-and-error. And how hybrid becomes intentional, not just reactive.
→ Turn blind spots into strategy with Basking’s real-time analytics
Rethinking Office ROI in 2025
The ROI of a workspace doesn’t come from raw attendance. It comes from meaningful presence that enables performance, culture, and connection.
We believe it’s time to make vibrancy a measurable standard.
Because when teams meet with purpose—and space supports that purpose—everything changes.
