With Office Utilization Climbing Globally, Companies Reconsider Downsizing

WUI

New XY Sense Workplace Utilization Index shows APAC offices reach highest occupancy levels since pandemic, as North America posts strongest gains in five years.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, November 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The world's offices are coming alive again, with Asia-Pacific leading a global resurgence in workplace activity and North American markets posting their strongest performance in five years, according to the latest XY Sense Workplace Utilization Index (WUI) released today.

The comprehensive report, analyzing over 200 billion data points from 59,000 workspaces across 9 countries during Q2 and Q3 2025, reveals that APAC achieved 47% average utilization—the highest of any region globally. Meanwhile, North America recorded 36% occupancy, representing an 11-point surge from just two quarters prior and a 9.5-point year-over-year increase.

Global workplace occupancy reached 43% across the six months, with July and September hitting 46%—the highest levels recorded since the pandemic began in 2020. Several forces are converging to drive the rise in office attendance. Many companies are now actively monitoring and enforcing in-office expectations, while economic uncertainty and advances in AI are increasing employees’ desire to stay visible, connected, and engaged with their teams. At the same time, employees increasingly see value in being on-site. In XY Sense’s Workplace Pulse study of more than 500 full-time office workers, 75% said in-office time improves learning and mentorship, and 71% said it boosts collaboration. These benefits — stronger relationships, faster decision-making, and better teamwork — are reshaping attitudes toward the office and driving utilization higher.

Regional Performance Highlights Strong Return-to-Office Momentum
The regional rankings reflect a fundamental shift in global workplace dynamics:
● APAC leads at 47% utilization, driven by robust economic expansion and strong collaborative work cultures
● UK maintains solid performance at 44%, demonstrating continued stability in return-to-office patterns
● North America shows remarkable recovery at 36%, up from approximately 20% at its lowest point three years ago

At the country level, Hong Kong claimed the global lead with 54% utilization, followed by India and Singapore tied at 51%.

"We're seeing offices, particularly in APAC and North America, genuinely buzzing again," said Shivaun Ryan, Global Head of Customer Success and GM-Americas at XY Sense. " Many companies are now hitting 80-90% utilization for high-demand spaces like conference rooms on core Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday office days. It’s creating real capacity constraints that require proactive space planning and real-time measurement to ensure teams have the collaborative environments they need. Twelve months ago, many companies were still focused on downsizing office portfolios. Today, many are using sensor data to inform new, larger office designs.”

Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday Workweek Solidifies, But All Days Show Growth
The traditional midweek peak continues to dominate workplace attendance patterns, with Tuesday leading at 51.5% utilization, followed closely by Wednesday at 49.5% and Thursday at 47.5%. However, every weekday showed significant gains, with Monday delivering the most impressive proportional growth—jumping 7 points year-over-year (22% increase) to reach 39.5% utilization.

Friday remained the quietest day at 29% but demonstrated consistent upward momentum with 14% year-over-year growth, suggesting that even deeply entrenched remote work preferences are gradually shifting.

Meeting-Heavy Workdays Drive Demand for Collaboration Spaces
The report reveals that modern offices have fundamentally transformed into collaboration hubs. Many workplaces now struggle to accommodate all the meetings desired by teams, particularly on hybrid “in-office” days. The Workplace Pulse study also asked workers about the conditions in their offices, and 54% said they struggle to find meeting places at least several times per week.

Interestingly, 94% of meetings involve six or fewer participants, revealing that most workplace collaboration happens in small groups—not large gatherings. Notably, 34% are single-person “meetings”, highlighting how frequently employees use meeting spaces for focus work, virtual calls, or one-on-one conversations. This underscores the growing need for smaller, purpose-built spaces such as phone booths and pods that support individual or two-person use without tying up larger rooms.

Improving meeting space availability is a key area where workplace teams are leveraging workplace analytics data. Many are now integrating the data with booking platforms and building management systems to monitor the actual status of spaces and eliminate ghost bookings if the rooms show no activity. The data are also helping them adjust the balance between individual workpoints and meeting areas, and adapting their collaboration areas to suit the number of people actually using them. For example, many companies are reducing the size of some large conference rooms, which are usually hosting small meetings, and adding pods and telephone booths to accommodate small 1-2 person meetings.

“The playbook has changed. You can’t manage a hybrid workplace with ratios from 2019,” said Alex Birch, Co-founder and CEO of XY Sense. “Peak days are slamming offices to capacity, sometimes within hours. Decisions can’t wait for a quarterly report. The companies winning right now are using live occupancy intelligence to eliminate ghost bookings and optimize space in real time. They’re forecasting demand accurately and staying ahead of space constraints — before it becomes a blocker for their teams.”

About the XY Sense Workplace Utilization Index
The WUI is based on anonymized space utilization data from XY Sense's enterprise workplace sensor network, which processes over 200 billion data points annually from more than 59,000 workspaces worldwide. The Q2/Q3 2025 edition analyzed data from April 1 through September 30, 2025, across APAC, North America, the United Kingdom, and other global regions.
The workplace utilization index is available at: https://xysense.com/workplace-utilization-index/
The companion study, The Workplace Pulse, is available at: https://xysense.com/the-workplace-pulse/

About XY Sense
XY Sense is the actionable occupancy intelligence platform for corporate real estate teams. Our privacy-first, AI-powered sensors, workplace analytics, and real-time building insights help companies transform office portfolios for the future of work. XY Sense has a global presence, with offices in Australia, the US, the UK, and India, serving enterprise customers in more than 27 countries.

Rebecca Wood
XY Sense
+1 510-206-8607
email us here

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