The pandemic period firmly rooted remote work across expert and knowledge-based organizations. The shift happened rapidly due to the crisis, leaving many practices unplanned. The pandemic has passed, but remote work habits have remained. Finland currently leads Europe in the share of remote workers within its working population (Eurostat 2023).

After the pandemic, a new dilemma emerged among leaders and teams: how to attract people back to the office? Major business-related questions remain on the table: Does widespread remote work harm productivity, culture, engagement, or innovation capacity? And what kinds of practices should be developed around different work models?

Globally, some companies have already drawn stricter lines. For example, Amazon required its employees to return to the office five days a week at the beginning of the year. In Finland, most organizations have settled into hybrid models, with employees expected to be present two or three days a week. In many workplaces, however, no clear policy was ever made.

Recently, Iltalehti reported that employees at Finland’s Social Insurance Institution (Kela) were unhappy with a new policy, which requires staff to work from the office at least once a week. The issue soon sparked political commentary. Finance Minister Riikka Purra called the one-day-a-week requirement “ridiculous,” noting that despite the time elapsed since the pandemic, public-sector remote work practices have hardly been tightened.

Remote work has become a complex and emotionally charged topic. The discussion is often driven by personal motivations: some passionately defend the employee’s right to choose how and where to work, while others emphasize the employer’s right to set boundaries. Many leaders worry about the effects of remote work on business performance but hesitate to speak up publicly for fear of criticism.

Finland and its Nordic neighbors remain Europe’s most advanced regions for remote work, and new research shows that the key question is no longer whether hybrid work can be sustained, but how to design it strategically.

This article brings together recent studies related to remote and on-site work. It is time to discuss the organization of hybrid work more broadly and analytically – drawing conclusions based on research. After all, when we talk about how work is done, we are ultimately talking about the very foundations of growth, development, meaning, and productivity.

Finland leads Europe’s shift to hybrid

According to Eurostat’s Labour Force data, Finland has been one of the highest-ranked EU countries for remote work since 2020, with 37% of employees in the Helsinki region usually working from home — the highest share in the bloc.

By 2023, a Statista analysis of Eurostat data confirmed that the Nordic countries — Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark — continue to lead Europe’s hybrid trend. While the EU average for remote work was 22.2%, the Nordic average stood above 40%.

The conclusion is clear: hybrid work is no longer a pandemic experiment. It is the Nordic baseline.

Research points to a new leadership model

While much of the public debate still revolves around attendance rules, research across Finland and the wider Nordics converges on a more sophisticated message: hybrid work succeeds when trust, structure, and purpose align.

A 2025 doctoral study by Johanna Jansson at the University of Vaasa identifies three interlocking foundations for sustainable hybrid work:

1. Organizational design that supports trust, autonomy, and clear expectations.
   
   
   

2. Supervisor–employee relationships built on mutual accountability and open communication.
   
   
   

3. Employee self-leadership, encompassing digital collaboration, time management, and shared responsibility for team success.
   
   

When these elements are in balance, companies can achieve both productivity and well-being gains.

“If an organisation’s structure is still designed for office work, tweaking HR practices is like putting winter tyres on a convertible,” Jansson notes. You might get a bit more grip, but the design is wrong for the conditions, she adds.
(University of Vaasa, 2025)

Her findings reframe the issue. Hybrid work is not a tug-of-war between managers and employees. Instead, it is a coordination challenge that demands redesign at every level of the organization.

Nordic and European evidence point in the same way

The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) reports that hybrid models can enhance both well-being and efficiency when expectations are clear and leadership is active. Poorly structured versions, however, risk isolation and blurred accountability.

The Nordregio “Remote Work” project (2021–2024) reaches similar conclusions: remote work has supported regional balance, decentralized talent, and reduced commuting, but requires renewed approaches to culture and collaboration.

Meanwhile, the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health stresses that the long-term post-pandemic impacts of hybrid work still need longitudinal evidence — but early findings already show its permanence.

Together, Nordic research frames hybrid work as a systemic organizational issue, not a temporary HR concern.

Corporate strategy: quality over quantity

A broader, global perspective reinforces the same point. The Leesman Focus Forward 2025 study, based on responses from 132 senior corporate real-estate leaders, identifies three themes shaping future workplace strategies:

1. Hybrid is here to stay. Most companies now see it as the default model.
   
   
   

2. Purpose and experience matter. Organizations must define a clear “workplace why” and use data to optimise the employee experience.
   
   
   

3. Quality over quantity. About 74% of firms have already reduced, or plan to reduce, their office footprint — investing instead in higher-quality collaboration spaces.

As the Fyra Nordic Workplace Data Study (2024) similarly observes, Nordic firms are shifting their office strategies “from square metres to meaning.” The best offices now function as brand environments and social anchors — not attendance checkboxes.

From control to coordination: actionable insights for Nordic executives

For leaders of listed Nordic companies, the message is clear: hybrid work is no longer a phase. It’s a performance architecture.
To make it work, organizations must manage structure, culture, and leadership as an integrated system.

1. Design for trust and accountability.
Rigid attendance rules do not create engagement. Replace symbolic mandates with clear roles, decision rights, and shared outcomes.

2. Redefine the office as a cultural hub.
Following Leesman and Fyra insights, invest in offices that drive collaboration, innovation, and belonging — not mere presence.

3. Empower middle managers as orchestrators.
Train managers to balance flexibility with coordination. As Jansson’s research shows, success depends on dialogue and empathy, not control.

4. Build employee self-leadership.
Hybrid productivity depends on autonomy, digital fluency, and peer accountability. Treat these as professional competencies, not personality traits.

5. Use data continuously.
Integrate Eurostat metrics, Leesman analytics, and internal engagement data to refine hybrid strategies. Measure how people work, not where.

Sources:

• Eurostat Labour Force Survey (2020). The Finnish capital region: 37% remote workers.

• Eurostat (2023). Employed persons working from home by professional status - % of total employment.

• FIOH (2025) – Latest Research Results on Remote and Hybrid Work in Finland.

• Fyra (2024) – Looking Back to Look Ahead: A Nordic Workplace Data Study.

• Iltalehti, (2025, Nov. 4). “Lasse Lehtosen käytös kuohuttaa Kelassa – ‘Karannut lapasesta’.”

• Jansson, J. (2025). Balancing Employee Preferences and Organizational Expectations for Mutual Gains. University of Vaasa. 

• Leesman (2025). Focus Forward: Insights from the Top.

• Nordregio (2024). Remote Work: Effects on Nordic People, Places and Planning.

• Purra, R. (2025, Nov 5). X post.

• Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health (2023). Remote Work: The New Normal Needs More Research.

• Statista  (2023). The Nordic hybrid average >40%, EU average 22.2%.