Is 2025 the year when we head back into the office?
That’s the question at the centre of the future of work debate. While CEOs of giants like Amazon and Apple tend to dominate the conversation, smaller businesses’ approaches often go unheard.
But that’s what Hubble set to bring to the forefront.
We surveyed 125 founders, CEOs, and C-level leaders from London’s startups and scaleups to discover their opinions on how and where their teams work.
Want a quick snapshot of our key findings? Here are the four major trends shaping where teams work, straight from London’s top startup leaders!
1) There’s still no perfect solution to developing a workspace strategy
As the years roll on, it’s clear there’s still no one-size-fits-all solution to workspace strategy. It’s gone from widespread remote work to “choose your own adventure”.
Whatever strategy you choose—whether it’s fully remote, office-based or somewhere in between—it must involve tradeoffs that align with your business needs.
In short, your workspace strategy should be bespoke to you with a little compromise involved. Not what the rest of the world is doing.
2) Hybrid working is popular, but hard to navigate
Hybrid working is one of the most popular workspace strategies. Many startups and scaleups have embraced it, mostly for its ability to improve work-life balance and productivity.
However, many are still figuring out the specifics, especially in terms of structure (like how many office days there are) and how strictly they should be enforced.
In short, hybrid working is still an ongoing experiment as companies discover what works best for them.
3) The tide is turning towards more office attendance
Aside from proudly remote companies, the tide seems to be turning towards more office-based working.
52% of founders expressed a desire for their teams to come back into the office more, suggesting a growing appetite for teams to get that all-important in-person interaction.
Could 2025 be the year when most of us go back to the office?
4) Changing up your approach comes with risks & rewards
While many leaders are keen for employees to come back to the office, they are aware of the risks of doing so.
Nearly 60% of leaders in our survey worry that stricter office mandates could lead to resignations, a costly price to pay for enforcing a heavier office mandate.
However, those who have gone down this route have found ways of mitigating the risks—and are reaping the rewards of their decisions. So, could the risk be worth it?
Get all the stats with our FREE report!
If you’d like to dig deeper into how London’s startup and scaleup founders feel about the future of work, download our free report! It covers a lot of ground on a whole bunch of topics, including:
- Hybrid, remote, or office-based — where are teams and leaders thriving?
- What are the real pros and cons of each strategy?
- Do leaders want more employees back in the office?
- How are they enforcing mandates?
- What shifts are coming in the next 12 months?
Kick-off 2025 with the latest trends—grab your free copy below!
