For the past three years, the corporate world has been locked in a territorial dispute. The Return to Office (RTO) wars have been defined by geography: home versus headquarters. But as 2025 unfolded, the frontline shifted. According to commercial real estate giant JLL’s Workforce Preference Barometer 2025, the most critical conflict between employers and employees is no longer about location, but about time.
While structured hybrid policies have become the norm, with 66% of office workers worldwide reporting clear expectations on which days to participate, a new disconnect has emerged. Employees have largely accepted the “where” but are aggressively demanding autonomy over the “when.”
The report highlights a fundamental shift in employee priorities. Work-life balance has overtaken salary as the top priority for office workers globally, cited by 65% of respondents — up from 59% in 2022. This statistic underscores a profound shift in needs: employees are looking for “time management over the place.”
While high wages remain the main reason for people switch jobs, the ability to control their schedule is the main reason why they stay. The report notes that employees are seeking “agency over when and how they work,” and this desire for temporal autonomy is reshaping the talent market.
While JLL hasn’t delved into the “coffee badge” phenomenon, its findings align with the practice of hybrid workers pushing the boundaries of office presence. The phrase – that is, when a worker checks in long enough to have the proverbial cup of coffee before commuting elsewhere to continue working remotely – vividly illustrates how the goalposts have moved from place to place. Gartner reported that 60% of employers were tracking employees as of 2022, twice as many as before the pandemic.
“flexibility gap”
JLL data reveals a significant ‘flexibility gap’: 57% of employees believe that flexible working hours would improve their quality of life, but only 49% currently have access to this benefit.
The gap is particularly dangerous for employers, JLL said, arguing that it believes the “psychological contract” between workers and employers is at risk. While pay and flexibility remain fundamental to retention, JLL said its survey of 8,700 workers in 31 countries reveals a deeper psychological contract: “Today’s workers want to be visible, valued and prepared for the future. About one in three say they might leave for better career development or retraining opportunities, while the same proportion are reassessing the role of work in their lives.” JLL argued that “recognition… emotional well-being and a clear sense of purpose” are now crucial to long-term retention.
The report warns that where this contract is broken, employees stop engaging and start seeking compensation through “increased commuting benefits and flexible hours”. The urgency for time flexibility is driven by a burnout crisis. Nearly 40% of office workers worldwide say they feel overwhelmed, and burnout has become a “serious threat to employers’ operations.”
The link between rigid schedules and attrition is clear: Of employees who are considering quitting in the next 12 months, 57% report experiencing burnout. For carers and the “squeezed middle” of the workforce, standard hybrid policies are insufficient; 42% of carers need short-notice paid leave to manage their lives, but often feel their constraints are “poorly understood and supported at work”.
To survive this new battle, the report suggests that companies must move away from “one-fits-all” approaches. Successful organizations are moving toward “customized flexibility,” which emphasizes autonomy over work hours rather than just counting days at the office. This change affects even the physical office building. To support a workforce that operates on asynchronous schedules, offices need to adapt with “extended opening hours,” smart lighting, and space reservation systems that support flexible work patterns rather than a rigid 9-to-5 routine.
Management guru Suzy Welch, however, warns that it could be an uphill battle for employers to find a cure for burnout. The New York University professor, who spent seven years as a management consultant at Bain & Co. before joining the Harvard Business Review in 2001, later serving as editor-in-chief, told Masters of scale the september burnout podcast is existential and generational. Welch, 66, argued that burnout is about hope, and current generations have reason to lack it.
“I thought if you worked hard, you’d be rewarded for it. And so that’s the disconnect,” she said.
Expanding on the theme, she added: “Gen Z is thinking, ‘Yeah, I watched what happened to my parents’ career and I watched what happened to my older sister’s career and they worked really hard and still got laid off.’ JLL’s worldwide survey suggests that this message resonated with workers globally: They shouldn’t be giving up their time, just not too much time.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com