Denver Ranked Last for Return to Office. That’s Not Necessarily Bad News.

When headlines announced that Denver ranked last among major U.S. cities for return-to-office, the reaction was predictable.

Downtown is struggling.

Employers can’t get people back.

Remote work has gone too far.

The assumption behind those reactions is simple: higher office attendance is good, and lower office attendance is bad.

I’m not convinced that’s true.

According to recent data, Denver’s office attendance remains below 50% of pre-pandemic levels, trailing every other major U.S. market. On the surface, that sounds like a problem.

But I think it may point to something more interesting.

Denver may not be rejecting the office.

Denver may be redefining it.

Colorado has always had a different relationship with work than much of the country. People move here for opportunity, but they also move here for balance. They want meaningful careers, but they also want time with family, weekends in the mountains, evenings on the trails, and the quality of life that makes Colorado special.

That culture naturally shapes how businesses think about work.

As Chief Revenue Officer of Denver Coworking, I work with businesses of every size across our Ohana Network of 12 locations throughout the Front Range. Every day, we get a front-row seat to how companies are rethinking their workplace strategies.

And what we’re seeing is not the end of the office.

It is the rise of a more intentional one.

We’re Measuring Yesterday’s Workplace

For decades, workplace strategy revolved around a single destination.

One headquarters.

One lease.

One commute.

Everyone came to the same building because everyone needed to.

That model made sense when work happened in one place.

Today, work is more distributed.

A leadership team might live in Cherry Creek. Sales is in Golden. Marketing is in Highlands Ranch. Finance is in Louisville. Engineering is in Boulder.

For many companies, asking everyone to drive to the same office every day is no longer the best use of time, energy, or resources.

The office still matters.

But its purpose has changed.

The Office Is Becoming a Hub

I believe we’re moving toward a hub-and-spoke model.

The hub is where teams collaborate, onboard new employees, meet with clients, build culture, and tackle the work that is simply better done together.

The spokes are where focused work happens closer to home, whether that’s a home office, a neighborhood coworking space, or another flexible workplace.

This is not about eliminating the office.

It is about using it better.

That shift matters because workplace strategy should be built around people, not just real estate.

Companies Are Gathering Differently

One thing I’ve noticed over the past few years is that our members are not asking how to force everyone back into the office.

They are asking where it actually makes sense to come together.

Recently, one of our members at Office Evolution Golden held their quarterly planning meeting at Venture X LoDo. After a full day of strategy sessions, the team walked over to Coors Field for a Rockies game together.

Another member from Office Evolution Broomfield had employees flying into Denver from around the country. Rather than asking everyone to meet in the suburbs, they gathered for two days in LoDo because it was the most convenient location for the team.

We have also hosted fully remote companies that use our Greenwood Village training room to onboard new employees over several days before everyone returns home.

These companies were not rejecting in-person work.

They were choosing it more carefully.

That is a very different conversation than “return to office.”

Flexibility Alone Is Not Enough

There is one challenge I do think deserves more attention.

Connection.

Flexible work has delivered tremendous benefits, but it has also reduced many of the spontaneous interactions that build trust, mentorship, and professional relationships.

Most people do not miss sitting on I-25 every morning.

But many do miss the conversation before the meeting.

The coffee break afterward.

The introduction that turns into a client.

The mentor who notices you are struggling before you ever say a word.

Those moments are difficult to recreate through a screen.

That is why I do not believe the future of work is fully remote.

I also do not believe it is five days a week in a downtown office.

It is something in between.

Where Coworking Fits

This is where coworking has evolved beyond simply providing desks.

The best coworking spaces are not replacing headquarters. They are complementing them.

They give companies places to gather intentionally while giving employees the flexibility to work closer to home the rest of the time.

For us, that is exactly what the Ohana Network was built to support.

A distributed workforce deserves a distributed workplace.

Looking Beyond Return-to-Office

Return-to-office statistics tell us where people are sitting.

They do not tell us whether employees are engaged.

They do not tell us whether companies are retaining great talent.

They do not tell us whether teams are collaborating effectively.

They do not tell us whether someone gained two hours back in their day by skipping an unnecessary commute.

Those are the outcomes that matter.

Maybe Denver’s return-to-office numbers are not a warning sign.

Maybe they are an early indicator that our city is embracing a different vision for work.

One built around flexibility without sacrificing community.

One where headquarters still matter, but they are not the only place work happens.

One where the question is no longer:

“How do we get everyone back?”

It is:

“Where should we gather?”

If we stopped measuring where people work and started measuring how well they work together, would Denver still rank last?

Or would it suddenly look like one of the cities leading the next chapter of work?

A perspective from Bryce Hill
Chief Revenue Officer, Denver Coworking