The return-to-office strategy survey
Which return-to-office strategy are organizations actually adopting? We put the question to more than 136 executives, HR professionals and managers. Here's what the data reveals, and where you stand.
Key takeaways
- 71% of organizations had already adopted a hybrid model, making it a market standard rather than a distinctive advantage.
- More than 96% of companies already had a return-to-office strategy or were in the process of building one.
- Nearly three quarters of organizations involved their employees in preparing this strategy, which fosters buy-in.
- Data collected from July 19 to September 7, 2021, at the height of the pandemic transition. The figures are dated, but the lesson stands: a work-organization strategy is designed with employees, not without them.
In the summer of 2021, one question kept coming up in every leadership team: how do you bring teams back to the office without breaking everything? Forced remote work had lasted months. Some employees had grown fond of it, others longed to reconnect with their colleagues, and no one had a ready-made plan. Every organization was improvising on its own, convinced it was the only one feeling its way.
We wanted to replace that impression with numbers. From July 19 to September 7, 2021, we surveyed more than 136 executives, human resources professionals and managers from a range of companies across Quebec about their return-to-office strategy. The goal wasn't to produce a ranking, but to give everyone a benchmark: where do others stand, and where do you stand compared with them? The results were, in fact, shared with participants as soon as the survey closed.
The answers that follow reflect a specific moment in the recent history of work. We present them dated, because their value lies mainly in being a snapshot of a transition. But the mechanism they reveal hasn't aged a day.
of the organizations surveyed had already adopted a hybrid model. Hybrid work was no longer a perk to offer: it had become the norm to follow.
Source: Amélio survey, summer 2021 (more than 136 respondents)What the survey measured
Three findings stood out clearly. They point to the same trend: by the summer of 2021, organizations were no longer waiting for the dust to settle. They were acting, and many did so by consulting their teams.
Source: Amélio survey conducted from July 19 to September 7, 2021 among more than 136 executives, HR professionals and managers.
How does your strategy compare with others?
Beyond the numbers, three broad return-to-office approaches stood out. The question is no longer just about choosing a model, but about knowing whether your hybrid-work strategy is aligned with your own reality and that of your market. Do you recognize yours?
The most common
Hybrid model
A balance between flexibility and presence. It's the most common approach: 71% of the organizations surveyed had adopted it.
The most structured
Return to the office
More structure and shared reference points, but less flexibility. A choice that was increasingly diverging from the market standard.
The most flexible
Flexible approach
More engaging for employees, but harder to manage day to day. It requires clear rules so it doesn't turn fuzzy.
Trends give a direction, but the real question remains: where do you stand? Comparing yourself with other companies helps you validate your choices and fine-tune your strategy. Some organizations even use industry-comparison tools, like those from Amélio, to position themselves more concretely. Because returning to the office is now a strategic HR issue, with tangible impacts on attraction, engagement and retention. And what if you could validate your strategy directly with your employees?
What the data really tells us
Taken on its own, the 71% figure reads like a simple statistic. Put in context, it tells the story of a shift. In just a few months, hybrid work had gone from a competitive advantage to a baseline expectation. An organization still requiring five days on site no longer stood out: it was falling behind.
The second figure is even more telling. When more than 96% of companies already have a strategy or are building one, inaction is no longer neutral. Not deciding means deciding to let ambiguity take hold, along with its trail of rumours, perceived inequities and silent departures.
But the richest finding is the third. Nearly three quarters of organizations involved their employees in designing their strategy, and organizations that involve them in the thinking generally see stronger buy-in. This isn't a matter of method: it's the factor that separates a policy people endure from one they embrace. A rule imposed from above gets worked around; a co-built rule gets respected. A return-to-office strategy is therefore better co-built than imposed. This is where an organization stops reacting to events and shows genuine organizational intelligence: the ability to listen to its teams, understand what keeps them going, and make that the engine of its decisions.
Behind every chosen model lie three questions the full survey also explored: the main motivations behind the choice of return-to-office strategy, the factors considered when adopting it, and the biggest fears once it was in place. These three dimensions - the why, the how and the perceived risk - are precisely the ones better resolved by consulting teams than by deciding for them.
The turning point
A survey like this is a snapshot: sharp, but frozen in the summer of 2021. The reality of work, though, is a film. What motivated your teams last year may already have changed. Measuring only once means deciding from an outdated picture.
From one-off survey to continuous listening
This survey has an expiry date, and that's exactly its limitation. A strategy for returning to the office, organizing work or building engagement is never settled once and for all. Employee expectations evolve, contexts change, and a policy decreed in July can ring false by November. The real question isn't "what did my teams think?", but "what are they living through right now?".
That's the logic Amélio is built on. Rather than one big annual survey that ages the moment it's done, we rely on continuous surveys: regular, short pulse checks that turn an isolated snapshot into a film revealing the trends. You see momentum building or fading in real time, and you act before the problem becomes a departure.
Our questions draw on a proven scientific model, the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, which separates what weighs on the employee from what supports them. That grounding is one of the reasons more than 750 organizations trust us, with an average participation rate above 85%: when questions are well framed and follow-up exists, people respond. And the stakes go beyond workplace climate: the Harvard Business Review links a 16% profit gap to the organizations whose employees are the most engaged, compared with the least engaged. Listening to your teams continuously isn't an act of goodwill: it's a business decision.
“A policy imposed from above gets worked around. A policy co-built with teams gets respected. The whole difference comes down to who you listened to before deciding.” The Amélio Organizational Development team
Frequently asked questions
When are the results of this survey from?
The data was collected from July 19 to September 7, 2021, at the height of the pandemic transition, from more than 136 executives, HR professionals and managers. We present it dated for accuracy: the percentages reflect that specific moment. The underlying lesson, however, remains fully relevant: a work-organization strategy benefits from being designed with employees.
Has the hybrid model really become the norm?
As early as the summer of 2021, 71% of the organizations surveyed had adopted a hybrid model. Hybrid work was therefore already seen as a market standard rather than a distinctive advantage. An organization requiring a full return to the office stood out less than it swam against the current.
Why involve employees in the return-to-office strategy?
Because buy-in can't be decreed. Nearly three quarters of the organizations surveyed involved their employees in preparing their strategy, and that's what sets a policy people endure apart from one they embrace. A co-built approach generates stronger buy-in than an imposed rule. Our engagement diagnostic exists precisely to gather that voice before deciding.
Is a one-off survey enough to steer work organization?
No. An isolated survey is a snapshot: useful, but frozen. Team expectations evolve, and a policy that's right in July can ring false a few months later. That's why we recommend continuous surveys, which track change over time rather than a single frozen instant, and let you adjust before unease turns into a departure.
How can Amélio help build this strategy?
Amélio gives organizations a clear, continuous read on what their teams are experiencing: regular pulse checks, results by theme, comparisons over time and prioritized action points, all grounded in a proven scientific model. You replace gut feeling and the aging survey with genuine organizational intelligence, updated in real time.
Go further
- The new management tool: continuous surveysWhy measuring continuously changes everything in how teams are managed.
- The employee engagement diagnosticGather your teams' voice before deciding, on scientific foundations.
- Remote work: the manager's best practicesManaging remote work without losing connection or engagement.
See the film, not the snapshot
Your teams are talking to you right now. Amélio gives you the means to listen to them continuously and act before it's too late. See how, in just a few minutes.
Schedule a demo No commitment. You leave with a clear read on what engages your teams.