Home
Careers
news
More workers are returning to the office in Paris than other top global business hubs, study finds

More workers are returning to the office in Paris than other top global business hubs, study finds

Nora Redmond

Employees have returned to the office at different rates across global centers of commerce, a new report has found. Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

RTO mandates and employee preferences are bringing some workers back to the office.
Many employers continue to worry that RTO policies will result in workers quitting.

The office isn't dead. Employees have gradually returned to the workplace since COVID-19 restrictions started to ease.

But the change to working from home, sparked by the pandemic, has resulted in a shift to a new kind of familiar — for many, a hybrid of remote and in-office work.

A new report by think tank Centre for Cities examines office attendance for full-time workers in global financial hubs.

Centre for Cities conducted a survey that targeted around 1,000 workers and 250 decision-makers in city-center offices in London, New York, Paris, Sydney, and Toronto in June 2024. In Singapore, about 400 workers and 100 decision-makers were targeted.

Here's how each city fared:

6. Toronto

Toronto lagged behind all the other global hubs included in the survey. Allan Baxter

Toronto's return to the office was reported to be the slowest out of the surveyed cities, with an average of 2.7 days.

Lagging behind other capitals could put Toronto at an economic disadvantage. The data showed that employees and employers recognized the benefits of entering the workplace.

5. London

The research found that younger workers in London go into the office more than their senior counterparts. Mike Kemp/Getty

London closely followed Toronto in the report. The number of people returning increased from 2.2 days in April 2023 to 2.7 in June 2024.

According to the poll, the UK's capital had the lowest average of mandated office days compared to the other five cities. It's also the only one where younger workers go to the office more than their senior colleagues, it found.

4. Sydney

Around 50% of employers in Sydney surveyed worried that strict RTO mandates would result in workers quitting. Gallo Images/Getty Images

The data showed that employees have returned at a rate of 2.8 days a week in Sydney.

The research found that the majority of employers polled in Toronto and Sydney were anxious about staff quitting due to more stringent RTO policies, despite only one in 10 workers polled saying they would do that.

3. New York

New Yorkers' return to the office came closer to pre-pandemic levels than Londoners', the report found. Alex Potemkin/Getty

The poll found that in New York, workers go to the office an average of 3.1 days per week.

2. Singapore

A general view of the Singapore city skyline. Annice Lyn/Getty Images for the Commonwealth Games Federation

The poll found that office attendance in Singapore was an average of 3.2 days a week, which puts it ahead of most other centers of commerce.

1. Paris

Paris was ahead of all of the other financial centers surveyed for RTO. Alexander Spatari/Getty Images

Paris led the way out of the cities included in the survey, with workers spending an average of 3.5 days in the office there.

The report also presented Paris as the only place on the list where workers go to the city-center workplace more than they are mandated to.