Before 2020, “office location” was a line in a job posting that most of us skimmed over. We considered the commute and nearby lunch spots, but for many professionals, especially those without young children or complex logistics or personal schedules, it wasn’t a deal-breaker.
Then the pandemic happened. Remote work shifted from a rare perk to an expectation. And now, as organizations around the world recalibrate hybrid and in-office policies, we’re having to re-learn how much the where of work shapes not only our careers, but our daily lives.
When Office Location Becomes a Family Decision
Based on my not-so-wide research, for parents, especially, the geography of work now sits at the intersection of career ambition and home logistics.
The school or daycare drop-off that used to be a quick detour can turn into a 45-minute cross-town loop if your office is on the opposite end of the city. Add after-school activities, sports practices, or music lessons, and suddenly your work address isn’t just a pin on a map. It can become either a source of daily friction or a source of flow.
For instance, families like mine, with children of varying ages attending schools across Helsinki, face a more complex decision. The location of the school can shape which jobs or employers are feasible, and which ones would require a complete re-engineering of the day.
The Dealbreaker Effect
For some, the office location has always been a critical factor in career decisions. I feel that more and more people consider location as the deciding factor. It’s been the reason to accept a role, reject a promising opportunity, or stay put in a current job despite other temptations.
This isn’t about convenience. It’s about whether the role’s demands fit into the infrastructure of your life, without causing a daily tug-of-war between your personal responsibilities and professional commitments.
Hybrid Work Hasn’t Eliminated the Location Factor
Some leaders assume that offering two or three remote days a week solves the problem. In reality, hybrid schedules often make location more important.
Why? Because those in-office days tend to be packed with back-to-back meetings, collaboration sessions, and team catch-ups. Precisely the things that don’t flex easily if you need to leave early to do a school run.
If the office location isn’t aligned with your personal logistics, those days can become exhausting, creating a sense of constant compromise between professional presence and personal responsibilities.
Location as a Career Lever
From a transformation leadership perspective, location decisions also ripple into talent retention and organizational culture.
Leaders who understand that office geography influences who stays, who leaves, and who thrives today can design policies and also choose office spaces that align with both business needs and human realities. This is more than empathy; it’s strategy. Teams that aren’t drained by commute logistics have more capacity to focus, collaborate, and innovate.
Choosing a Place with Intention
The conversation about office location should happen early in career moves. And on both sides of the hiring table.
For individuals, it’s about knowing your non-negotiables: school runs, caregiving responsibilities, health needs, and even mental bandwidth. For organizations, it’s about understanding the lifestyles and logistical patterns of your talent pool, and designing locations, schedules, and flexibility that support them.
In 2025, the best leaders, whether they’re running a team or their own careers, know that location isn’t just a backdrop for work. It has become a key part of the performance system.
