Joe Harris recently shared something that caught my attention: "A superb write-up by Mark Eltringham highlighting what he found in the HubStar Hybrid Occupancy Index data released this week. Link to Mark's article below, full report in the comments."

That short note does two important things. First, it points us to a specific dataset (the HubStar Hybrid Occupancy Index) rather than relying on hot takes about remote versus office. Second, it signals that the conversation is shifting from "Is hybrid working happening?" to "What does hybrid look like now that it is settling down?"

In this post, I want to expand on Joe's point and explore why occupancy data matters, what it can (and cannot) tell you, and how leaders can turn these signals into better workplace decisions.

What the Hybrid Occupancy Index is really measuring

The phrase "Hybrid Occupancy Index" can sound abstract, but the core idea is straightforward: it is a way of tracking how often workplaces are actually being used. Not how many desks exist, not how many people are employed, but how many people show up and when.

That distinction matters because hybrid work is not just a policy. It is a pattern of behavior. And behavior shows up in operational data like:

Building entry and badge swipes
Desk bookings and cancellations
Meeting room utilization
Day-of-week peaks (often midweek)
Seasonal shifts and holiday effects

When Joe highlights Mark Eltringham's write-up on the Index, I read it as an invitation to focus on behavior-based evidence. That is where the real insights live.

Key insight: workplace strategy works best when it is built on observed behavior, not stated preferences.

The big takeaway: hybrid working is stabilizing

A lot of the past few years has felt like constant change: shifting mandates, new tools, reorganizations, and experimentation with office days. So when people say "hybrid is stabilizing," it can sound almost boring. But it is actually a major milestone.

Stability means a few things at once:

Employees have formed habits that persist beyond policy nudges
Teams have established norms for collaboration days
The office is being used with some predictability
Leaders can plan for the medium term instead of reacting weekly

In other words, stabilizing does not mean "going back". It means the system is becoming legible. And once it is legible, you can manage it.

Why occupancy data matters more than opinion right now

If you ask ten leaders what is happening with hybrid work, you may get ten different answers. That is because each person is sampling reality from their own calendar, their own team, and their own floor of the building.

Occupancy data gives you a shared reference point. It can help answer questions like:

Are we actually busy, or does it just feel busy?

A common complaint is "Tuesdays are chaotic". Data can confirm whether that is true across the building or concentrated in specific areas. If only certain floors spike, you can redesign neighborhood layouts, catering, reception staffing, and meeting room allocation without overcorrecting the entire site.

Are our mandates driving attendance, or are norms doing the work?

If attendance rises only immediately after a policy change and then drops, you may be seeing compliance rather than commitment. If it remains steady, norms are taking hold. Stability is often a sign that norms are doing more than mandates.

Are we resourced for the real peak days?

Many organizations plan for average occupancy and then suffer on peak days. Hybrid patterns tend to be uneven across the week, so you need to plan for the shape of demand, not just the volume.

Key insight: the average can be a trap. Peak-day experience is what employees remember.

The common pattern: midweek concentration and its consequences

Even without the specific figures from Mark's article in front of us, the most widely observed hybrid pattern is midweek concentration. People cluster office days to maximize overlap, which can improve collaboration but creates operational strain.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

Tuesday to Thursday become "all-hands" days by default
Monday and Friday become quieter, focus-oriented days
Meeting rooms are scarce midweek, underused at the edges
Commutes and elevators feel worst on the same days
Food service demand becomes volatile

If the HubStar Index indicates stabilization, it likely means these patterns are no longer random. They are becoming routine. That is good news for planning, but it also forces a decision: do you accept the midweek spike, or do you design to smooth it?

What leaders should do with this kind of data

Joe's post is a reminder that good workplace decisions are increasingly data-literate decisions. Here are practical ways to apply occupancy insights without overcomplicating things.

1) Treat occupancy as a product metric

If you think of the office as a product employees choose to use, then occupancy is a usage metric. Ask product-style questions:

Who uses the office and for what jobs-to-be-done?
What is the "activation" moment (a great team day, an onboarding week)?
What causes churn (noise, lack of rooms, unreliable tech)?

This mindset shifts you from "forcing return" to "earning return".

2) Design for moments that need co-location

Stabilization is your chance to get precise. Not every task needs co-location. But some moments benefit disproportionately from it, such as:

Onboarding and early tenure learning
Cross-functional planning
Creative workshops
Difficult conversations and performance coaching
Relationship building for distributed teams

Use the data to ensure the office is best-in-class for these moments: the right room mix, reliable AV, easy booking, and spaces that support both structured and informal interaction.

3) Fix the peak-day experience first

If people only come in two days a week, those two days must work. Prioritize:

Meeting room capacity and booking rules
Quiet zones and phone areas to reduce noise spill
Wi-Fi and video reliability
Wayfinding, lockers, and seating clarity
Arrival and departure bottlenecks (reception, lifts, parking)

A smoother peak day increases satisfaction more than small upgrades spread thinly across the entire week.

4) Pair occupancy data with listening data

Occupancy tells you what is happening. It does not fully explain why. Combine it with:

Short pulse surveys (monthly, not annual)
Focus groups segmented by role and tenure
Team-level retros after key in-office days
Manager feedback loops

When the numbers say attendance is steady but sentiment is dropping, you have an experience problem. When sentiment is high but occupancy is low, you may have a coordination problem.

What not to do: over-interpret a single index

Data is powerful, but it is also easy to misuse. A few cautions worth keeping in mind:

Occupancy does not equal productivity. It is a proxy for presence, not outcomes.
Benchmarks can mislead if your portfolio is unique (industry, geography, commute patterns).
Stabilization is not the same as optimization. Stable patterns can still be frustrating patterns.
Forcing uniform attendance can reduce the very benefits hybrid is meant to protect.

The goal is not to "win" an attendance chart. The goal is to support performance, retention, and healthy collaboration.

The bigger shift Joe's post points to

What I like about Joe Harris's share is that it elevates the conversation. It is less about debate and more about diagnosis. When leaders pay attention to credible data sources and thoughtful interpretation, the workplace stops being a culture war and becomes an operational design challenge.

If hybrid working is indeed stabilizing, that is your window to make smarter calls on real estate, service levels, and team norms. Stability gives you a baseline. From there, improvement becomes measurable.

Key insight: once patterns stabilize, you can stop guessing and start iterating.

This blog post expands on a viral LinkedIn post by Joe Harris. View the original LinkedIn post →