More and more companies in Czechia are telling employees to return to the office

Office attendance in the Czech Republic and across Europe is on the rise, with average occupancy exceeding 60 percent in the country for the first time since Covid-19. According to a recent analysis by real estate and consulting firm Savills, companies are gradually limiting work-from-home options, citing the need for personal interaction, better facilities, and “peace of mind” at work.

The study found that Prague offices were among the busiest in Europe, with an occupancy rate of 61 percent, a 9-percentage-point increase from last year. In contrast, before the start of the pandemic, offices were typically around 70 percent full. While Fridays remain the most popular day for remote work, even that is on the decline.

Savills says that many firms are now seeking to attract employees back to the office, investing in equipment, relaxation zones, and social spaces to provide an attractive alternative to working from home.

Some companies, like Amazon, have taken a more drastic approach, ordering employees to return to the office full-time. "In recent months, there has been an increase in the number of corporations whose management is ordering employees to return to their offices, up to five days a week," stated Radka Novak, head of the office space rental team at Cushman & Wakefield.

However, not all companies are abandoning flexible work arrangements. Banks, for instance, have maintained their hybrid models. "It is more challenging for managers to manage teams remotely and communication between people becomes more complicated," explained Jiří Halbrštát, director of recruitment and marketing at ManpowerGroup.

"An employer must offer their employees something extra beyond the table and chairs they have at home," said Martina Havlíčková, fit-out manager of Wood Real Estate. 

The push for a return to the office is driven in part by the need for face-to-face interaction in industries like software development. "When you're developing software and programming, it's a team effort. You have to talk to designers, product managers, teams have to communicate with each other. That's why we said that we would like to see our colleagues in the office at least three days out of five," said Ladislav Kučera, HR director of SAP for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

However, employers and companies are also in a quandary when it comes to allowing workers to stay home. "Some employment conditions simply do not allow almost half of the [the national workforce] to work from home," Tomáš Pavlíček from the job portal Prace.cz tells Czech media outlet iDnes. Some entrepreneurs may feel pressured to provide a work-from-home option, even if it's not ideal for their business, he said.

A separate study from the STEM/MARK research agency earlier this year revealed that over half the Czech population prefers a hybrid model of employment (a mix of coming into the office working remotely), and roughly 40 percent of all workers currently have the option to work flexibly. In 2019, this figure was at just 4 percent.