Hybrid working in 2026: where adoption of desk booking software and the mobile app really stands

Hybrid working is no longer an experiment: it has become the organisational norm. One question, however, is still on many leadership teams’ minds: are the digital tools meant to support hybrid working, led by desk booking software and the mobile app, really used day to day, or simply installed without being adopted? The latest data published by JLL, CBRE and Gartner provides concrete answers. 

Where does hybrid working adoption stand today? 

A hybrid working model that has stabilised, not become universal 

According to JLL’s Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report, based on 84 organisations representing a property portfolio of 716 million square metres, the gap between actual office occupancy and the target set by companies has narrowed year after year, from 25 points to 18 points, its lowest level since the pandemic. Hybrid working has therefore entered a phase of finer-grained management, in which the gap between intention and reality is shrinking thanks to occupancy data. 

The return to the office is happening with hybrid working, not a step backwards 

CBRE confirms the trend in its Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights study. The global average office occupancy rate has risen significantly to just over half of available desks, compared with just over a third two years earlier, moving closer to the two-thirds threshold that most respondents have set as their target. In other words, companies are returning to the office in a more structured way, but are keeping a deliberate hybrid working model rather than going back to five days on site. 

This gradual return to the office is accompanied by a fundamental change in how hybrid workspaces are organised. Again according to CBRE, the share of companies operating with a desk assigned to each employee has fallen sharply within two years, in favour of shared desk models, which are now the majority among a large proportion of the organisations surveyed. The fixed desk is becoming the exception in a context where hybrid working is widespread. 

Desk booking software and hybrid working: a tool tracked as a category in its own right 

What desk booking software changes in hybrid working practices 

Desk booking software allows each employee to book a desk before coming into the office, see who in their team will be there and adjust their booking at the last minute. In a hybrid working context, the challenge is no longer to convince people that the tool is useful, which is widely recognised, but to make sure it is actually used week after week rather than forgotten after a few months. 

A desk booking software market tracked by analysts 

The subject has grown large enough for Gartner to give it its own category. Its recently published Magic Quadrant for Workplace Experience Applications evaluates vendors offering unified platforms that integrate AI and IoT to support hybrid working, smooth interactions and optimise space using data. On the G2 marketplace, the category dedicated to desk booking software alone lists more than a hundred solutions, a sign of a mature market where differentiation depends on real-world use rather than the list of features. 

The mobile app: a prerequisite for hybrid working that lasts 

In hybrid working, the fixed workstation is no longer the entry point 

Desk booking software that can only be accessed from a desktop computer loses some of its value in a hybrid working context. The mobile app changes this dynamic: attendance can be declared from the sofa on a Sunday evening or changed between two appointments, without waiting to be in front of a fixed workstation. It is this mobile reflex that distinguishes a tool that is genuinely adopted from one that is simply deployed. 

Synchronisation, the driver of repeat use 

The other factor that determines the adoption of a hybrid working mobile app is integration with the tools people already use every day. Native synchronisation with Outlook, Teams and Google Workspace means attendance status updates automatically from the work calendar, with no extra username or password to manage. At Hamilton Apps, this approach takes the form of a mobile app that displays colleagues’ schedules, offers “in the office”, “working from home” and “at a client’s” statuses, and updates continuously as calendars change. 

How to encourage lasting adoption of hybrid working internally 

Experience on the ground, backed up by CBRE and JLL data, reveals a few recurring levers in organisations where hybrid working is genuinely becoming part of everyday practice: 

• start with a limited scope, one team or one floor, before rolling out the desk booking software more widely; 

• choose a mobile app that is as easy to use as a consumer app, to avoid people giving up after a few weeks; 

• connect the tool to Outlook, Teams or Google Workspace from launch, rather than creating a dedicated login; 

• share occupancy data with teams regularly, to anchor hybrid working in a collective approach; 

• appoint a lead who can adjust booking rules based on feedback from the ground. 

These conditions match what CBRE observes on a large scale: organisations that manage their hybrid working with data narrow the gap between theoretical and actual attendance, exactly as the JLL report shows.