For employers seeking to boost office attendance, along with owners, retailers and cities looking to maximize today’s visitation patterns, understanding what actually drives employee behavior has become more critical than ever, Placer.ai says in a new white paper. The return-to-office mandates implemented in 2025 often came up against employee pushback, leading many organizations to adopt quiet tactics.
Office Attendance Drivers in 2026: The New Rules of Showing Up discusses key aspects of a successful strategy for bringing workers back onsite. They include the following:
- Plan for continued, but slower, office recovery. Attendance continues to rise and has reached a post-pandemic high, but moderating growth suggests RTO may progress at a more gradual and incremental pace than in prior years, says Placer.ai.
- Account for growing seasonality in office staffing, local retail operations, and municipal services. As office visitation becomes increasingly concentrated in late spring and summer, offices, downtown retailers and cities may need to plan for more predictable peaks and troughs by adjusting hours, staffing levels, and local services accordingly.
- Align leasing strategies with seasonal demand. Stronger attendance in Q2 and Q3 suggests these quarters are best suited for leasing activity, while softer Q1 and Q4 periods may be better used for renovations, repositioning and targeted activation efforts.
- Design hybrid policies around midweek anchor days. With Tuesdays and Wednesdays consistently driving the highest office attendance, employers can maximize collaboration and space utilization by concentrating meetings, programming and in-office expectations midweek.
- Reduce early-week commute friction to support attendance. Monday office attendance appears closely correlated with commute ease, suggesting that reliable and efficient transportation may be an important factor in early-week office recovery.
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