"There's been a shift for some time now," Camilla Frankelius, head of negotiations at the Engineers of Sweden union, told the TT newswire.
During the pandemic four to five years ago, hordes of office workers left their workplaces to work from home. And at many workplaces it became the new normal post-pandemic.
But recently, a similar trend to elsewhere in the world has emerged in Sweden, where employers want their workforce back in the office. A reason often cited is that the power of innovation is boosted by face-to-face meetings.
According to the latest figures from Statistics Sweden for the first quarter of 2026, over 1.6 million employees work from home at least one day a week, which accounts for 38 percent of all employed people. Twenty years ago, that figure was around 20 percent.
In recent years, however, the number of people working from home is again on the decrease.
Trucking giant Scania's demand to call staff that have been able to work from home back to the office was recently met with protests. Similar demands at other major companies such as Volvo and Ericsson have also been met with some dissatisfaction. But similar directives are coming from an increasing number of companies, according to Frankelius.
"Both within mining and tech, pharmaceuticals, and even the paper industry, these issues are on the table, or are at least being discussed right now."
Peter Mellin, Swedish CEO at Sodexo, which manages various types of facility services for companies, also notices the change among clients.
"More people are coming into the offices now than they were a while ago," he told TT.
Previously, Mondays and Fridays were fairly quiet days.
"I would say Monday is gone. However, we still see a Friday difference," said Mellin, who notices that companies have begun to regulate what applies at the workplace more clearly.
What do you think? Do you prefer working from home, the office or a hybrid model?