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Australian business leaders backflipped on return-to-office expectations in 2025, a survey by KPMG has revealed.
KPMG’s 2025 global CEO outlook revealed a sharp decline in the share of business leaders expecting their employees to return to the office full-time in the medium term.
Only 22 per cent said they expected corporate employees back in the office full-time in the next three years. Just last year, 82 per cent of Australian CEOs said they expected their workforce to be back to the office full-time in the next three years.
“The majority of CEOs have said that they’ve found three days a week in the office to be the sweet spot, but I think ultimately it’s about what works for each business,” KPMG Australia CEO Andrew Yates said.
“The numbers confirm what we have long suspected: a return to a fully back-in-the-office workforce in Australia is unlikely.”
KPMG found that 48 per cent of Australian CEOs expected to stick to a hybrid model with three days in the office. Just 22 per cent had expectations of full-time return to office, while 18 per cent expected staff to be in the office four days a week, and 8 per cent for two days a week.
This broadly aligned with global trends, which found that 45 per cent of CEOs globally expected their corporate staff to be in the office three days a week. The next most common set-ups were a full-time office mandate (31 per cent), followed by four days in the office (12 per cent).
The report also found that 90 per cent of Australian CEOs were optimistic about the domestic economy’s growth prospects, despite trade uncertainty.
However, Aussie leaders were less confident when it came to the global economy. Only two-thirds (66 per cent) were confident in medium-term global growth prospects, compared to 73 per cent of US CEOs and 72 per cent of Japanese CEOs.
A majority (80 per cent) of Australian CEOs said they were optimistic about their company’s growth over the next three years, although this had softened somewhat from 86 per cent a year ago.
“I’m not surprised that Australian CEOs are still feeling optimistic about the growth of our economy, given household spending has seen a recent uptick, and the RBA has cut the cash rate,” Yates said.
“While the global economy is still facing uncertainty, Australia is less impacted by tariffs than many other countries, and so our export markets have remained strong.”
