Across Europe, the landscape of work in 2025 reveals a shared reality: hybrid work is no longer an experiment but a structured norm. The balance between home and office has stabilized, though the rhythm varies widely from country to country. The pandemic’s remote revolution has given way to a subtler, more regulated hybrid model—anchored in two or three in-office days per week for most desk-based jobs. In the United Kingdom, the hybrid model has become standardized rather than optional. Job listings across sectors now specify office presence as a condition, with most employers expecting two to three office days per week. The ultra-flexible one-day arrangements that flourished during the pandemic have almost vanished. Analysts say the UK’s pattern reflects both cultural adaptation and the realities of collaboration—businesses want teams together, but not full-time. In Germany, hybrid work has proven remarkably resilient. Roughly a quarter of the workforce now works from home at least part of the week, a rate that has held steady since 2024. The country’s engineering and manufacturing base still demands physical presence, but the white-collar core of its economy—finance, professional services, and IT—has embraced long-term hybrid patterns. The result is a model that prioritizes predictability over novelty, with two or three remote days seen as the practical ceiling. France has settled into a similar rhythm. While homeworking rates dipped from the pandemic peak, telework remains embedded in corporate structures. French employees in eligible roles typically spend about two days per week at home, sustained by collective agreements that protect the right to disconnect and limit unpaid overtime. For many companies, this compromise between flexibility and structure has become part of their employment brand. Further north, Belgium remains one of Europe’s most hybrid-friendly markets. Surveys show that most employees there work remotely one or two days per week, with Brussels—where cross-border commuting is heavy—showing even higher averages. The practice has eased traffic pressure and become part of the capital’s sustainability agenda. Southern Europe paints a different picture. In Spain, about a quarter of the workforce teleworks in some capacity, with younger workers most likely to split their week between home and office. Italy continues to use its own “smart working” framework, though adoption varies sharply by company. Many Italian firms now treat two home days as a reasonable middle ground, while public administration and smaller enterprises have returned more firmly to traditional office setups. In the Netherlands, hybrid working is now woven into the national culture. The Dutch legal framework grants employees the right to request remote work, and around a third of workers now exercise that option regularly. The country’s mature infrastructure and long tradition of part-time arrangements make flexibility the default, not the exception. Sweden and its Nordic neighbours maintain similarly flexible systems. Major cities like Stockholm see regular remote work in well over 10–15 percent of jobs, and although the frequency of full-week telework has dipped, the hybrid model remains a cornerstone of professional life. Nordic firms continue to link workplace flexibility with employee well-being and productivity rather than with short-term efficiency drives. Central Europe shows the hybrid model’s uneven integration. In Poland, surveys indicate that nearly half of employees prefer hybrid schedules, yet employers—especially outside large cities—often insist on more in-office time. Czechia mirrors this tension: hybrid roles attract far more applicants than fully on-site ones, but many firms still push for a return to three or more office days. Hungary is mid-transition, with hybrid arrangements widespread in corporate sectors but inconsistent across public and manufacturing jobs. What unites these markets is a quiet recalibration of what “flexible” really means. The early 2020s were defined by freedom—work anywhere, anytime. The mid-decade reality is defined by expectation: how many office days, which days, and for what purpose. Europe’s capital cities have all reached the same conclusion from different directions. Too much home working risks isolation and weak cohesion; too much office time undermines retention and morale. The sweet spot, it seems, lies somewhere around the middle of the week. Yet this convergence hides wide local contrasts. Northern and Western Europe continue to enjoy higher flexibility and better digital infrastructure; Southern and Central Europe, more hierarchical management cultures, move slower. The direction, however, is shared. Employers are not abandoning hybrid work—they are professionalising it. If the pandemic forced remote work on Europe, 2025 marks the year when the continent truly learned to govern it. Source: comp.