For the past three years, the corporate world has been locked in a territorial dispute. The return-to-office (RTO) wars were defined by geography: the home versus the headquarters. But as 2025 unfolded, the front line shifted. According to a report from commercial real estate giant JLL, Workforce Preference Barometer 2025, the most critical conflict between employers and employees is no longer about locationโit is about time.
While structured hybrid policies have become the norm, with 66% of global office workers reporting clear expectations on which days to attend, a new disconnect has emerged. Employees have largely accepted the โwhere,โ but they are aggressively demanding autonomy over the โwhen.โ
The report highlights a fundamental change in employee priorities. Work-life balance has overtaken salary as the leading priority for office workers globally, cited by 65% of respondentsโup from 59% in 2022. This statistic underscores a profound shift in needs: Employees are looking for โmanagement of time over place.โ
While high salaries remain the top reason people switch jobs, the ability to control oneโs schedule is the primary reason they stay. The report notes employees are seeking โagency over when and how they work,โ and this desire for temporal autonomy is reshaping the talent market.
Although JLL didnโt dive into the phenomenon of โcoffee badging,โ its findings align with the practice of hybrid workers stretching the boundaries of office attendance. The phraseโmeaning when a worker badges in just long enough to have the proverbial cup of coffee before commuting somewhere else to keep working remotelyโvividly illustrates how the goalposts have shifted from where to when. Gartner reported 60% of employers were tracking employees as of 2022, twice as many as before the pandemic.
The โflexibility gapโ
JLLโs data reveals a significant โflexibility gapโ: 57% of employees believe flexible working hours would improve their quality of life, yet only 49% currently have access to this benefit.
The gap is particularly dangerous for employers, JLL said, arguing it believes the โpsychological contractโ between workers and employers is at risk. While salary and flexibility remain fundamental to retention, JLL said its survey of 8,700 workers across 31 countries reveals a deeper psychological contract: โWorkers today want to be visible, valued, and prepared for the future. Around one in three say they could leave for better career development or reskilling opportunities, while the same proportion is reevaluating the role of work in their lives.โ JLL argued โrecognitionโฆemotional well-being and a clear sense of purposeโ are now crucial for long-term retention.
The report warns that where this contract is broken, employees stop engaging and start seeking compensation through โincreased commuting stipend and flexible hours.โ The urgency for time flexibility is being driven by a crisis of exhaustion. Nearly 40% of global office workers report feeling overwhelmed, and burnout has become a โserious threat to employersโ operations.โ
The link between rigid schedules and attrition is clear: Among employees considering quitting in the next 12 months, 57% report suffering from burnout. For caregivers and the โsqueezed middleโ of the workforce, standard hybrid policies are insufficient; 42% of caregivers require short-notice paid leave to manage their lives, yet they often feel their constraints are โpoorly understood and supported at work.โ
To survive this new battle, the report suggests companies must abandon โone-size-fits-allโ approaches. Successful organizations are moving toward โtailored flexibility,โ which emphasizes autonomy over working hours rather than just counting days at a desk. This shift even impacts the physical office building. To support a workforce that operates on asynchronous schedules, offices must adapt with โextended access hours,โ smart lighting, and space-booking systems that support flexible work patterns rather than a rigid nine-to-five routine.
Management guru Suzy Welch, however, warns it may be an uphill battle for employers to find a burnout cure. The New York University professor, who spent seven years as a management consultant at Bain & Co. before joining Harvard Business Review in 2001, later serving as editor-in-chief, told the Masters of Scale podcast in September burnout is existential and generational. The 66-year-old Welch argued burnout is linked to hope, and current generations have reason to lack this.
โWe believed that if you worked hard you were rewarded for it. And so this is the disconnect,โ she said.
Expanding on the theme, she added: โGen Z thinks, โYeah, I watched what happened to my parentsโ career and I watched what happened to my older sisterโs career and they worked very hard and they still got laid off.โโย
JLLโs worldwide survey suggests this message has resonated for workers globally: They shouldnโt give up too much of their time, because it just may not be rewarded.
Written by Nick Lichtenberg for Fortune as โBosses are fighting a new battle in the RTO wars: Itโs not about where you work, but when you workโ and republished with permission.
