Why the five-day office week may disappear

For many New Yorkers, commuting to the office remains a significant part of daily life. The average worker spends

For many New Yorkers, commuting to the office remains a significant part of daily life. The average worker spends around 53 minutes travelling each way, but Mark Dixon, CEO of workspace giant IWG, believes this routine may look very different within the next 15 years.

Research conducted by IWG in partnership with engineering consultancy Arup suggests that younger generations are already developing very different expectations about where and how they will work. According to the research, 80% of Gen Alpha—the oldest members of which are currently only 16 years old—expect flexible working to become the standard by 2040.

Dixon argues that the attitudes of today’s teenagers could fundamentally reshape the workplace. He told Fortune that future generations may find it difficult to understand why people once spent hours travelling to an office simply “to sit down and use a computer.” In other words, the traditional office may eventually seem as outdated to younger workers as other workplace practices from previous generations seem today.

The research also highlights how strongly Gen Alpha values shorter commutes. Only about one-quarter of those surveyed said they would be willing to accept a journey of more than 30 minutes to work. Most expect to work close to their homes or work remotely from home altogether. From Dixon’s perspective, the current push by some companies to bring employees back to the office is likely to be a temporary adjustment rather than a permanent reversal of the remote-work trend.

Evidence from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) points in a similar direction. Researchers analysed data involving approximately 8,000 American employees and found an interesting relationship between a CEO’s age and office attendance requirements. Younger CEOs tend to require fewer days of in-person work than their older counterparts. As younger executives increasingly move into leadership positions, the researchers suggest that the traditional five-day office week could gradually become obsolete.

The NBER study also identified another important connection: leaders who are more supportive of remote work tend to be quicker to adopt new technologies and software-based management systems. This suggests that workplace flexibility may be connected to a broader willingness to embrace technological change.

Dixon takes this argument even further. He believes companies that remain focused on physical presence while failing to embrace workplace flexibility and artificial intelligence could eventually struggle to compete. In a rapidly changing business environment, organizations may need to prioritize results, collaboration and technological innovation over simply measuring whether employees are physically sitting at their desks.

Brian O’Kelley, the founder of climate-tech company Scope3 and former CEO of AppNexus, which was sold to AT&T for $1.6 billion, shares a similar view. He argues that CEOs who impose strict office requirements may not be giving enough attention to preparing their organizations for an AI-driven future.

Ultimately, the workplace of 2040 could look very different from today’s. As younger leaders enter positions of influence and technologies such as AI become increasingly integrated into everyday business, flexibility may become less of an employee benefit and more of a fundamental feature of how companies operate.