Hybrid work 2026: what talent wants and how Airbnb, Spotify, and Dropbox solve it

Last updated: September 2026

For years, the corporate headquarters was the symbol of a successful company. A large building, in the best area, with the logo at the entrance.

In 2026, that symbol changed. The new labor luxury isn't an incredible office, it's being able to choose where you work.

The companies that best attract talent already understand this. Airbnb, Spotify, and Dropbox didn't eliminate their offices, but they stopped treating them as the center of everything. And data from Latin America shows that talent here is asking for exactly the same thing.

What does talent want in 2026?

Flexibility. And no longer as a benefit, but as a condition.

According to Desky data, 7 out of 10 professionals in LATAM wouldn't accept a 100% in-office job. 60% would change jobs if their company went back to requiring only in-person work. And 38% would expect a salary increase if they lost the ability to work remotely.

In Argentina, 51% prefer the hybrid model and 33% consider it non-negotiable.

The impact on recruitment is direct: 78% of candidates evaluate flexibility before salary. Hybrid is no longer a differentiator. It's part of the psychological contract between the company and its people.

The most recent regional studies go in the same direction. According to Rankmi's 2026 Work-Life Balance Pulse, remote or hybrid work is the factor that most contributes to work-life balance, at 29.2%.

Does more flexibility mean less office?

No. And here's the nuance that many companies overlook.

Flexibility doesn't mean "everyone works from home and that's it." 83% of Argentine workers say they seek a sense of community at work. 41% would quit if they don't feel a sense of belonging. And 41% of remote employees miss the socialization that naturally happened in the office.

Talent wants two things at the same time: freedom to choose where to work and a place to meet with their team.

The companies that resolved this best didn't choose between one or the other. They redesigned the space to provide both.

How does remote work function at Airbnb?

In April 2022, Brian Chesky launched the "Live and Work Anywhere" policy. Employees can move anywhere in the country without changes to their compensation, travel and work from outside the country, and meet in person around four times per year.

The argument was clear: limiting the talent search to the distance people could commute to offices put them at a disadvantage.

Today the rule is simple: Chesky asks teams to go to San Francisco one week per month. The result: about 20% of employees moved to other states or countries since the policy started.

But Airbnb didn't stop investing in spaces. After 2020, it closed or reduced dozens of local offices and moved to a model of larger regional hubs. The office stopped being the place you go every day and became the place where culture is built.

How does Spotify's Work From Anywhere function?

Spotify launched "Work From Anywhere" in 2021 and maintained it while other giants went backwards. In 2026 it remains in place: each person chooses whether they work from the office, from home, or combining both, with no mandatory days.

The results: turnover dropped 15% and hiring processes shortened by six days.

And for those who don't live near a location, the company offers access to coworkings. Her CHRO, Katarina Berg, sums up the philosophy: "You can't spend a lot of time hiring grown-ups and then treat them like children".

What is Dropbox's Virtual First model?

Dropbox went further. Remote is the default experience and offices transformed into "Dropbox Studios": spaces for collaborating and doing team activities, without individual desks. For those who need a fixed place to focus, there's a subsidy for coworking memberships.

Dropbox doesn't force anyone to go. But teams choose to do so to connect. That's the difference between an imposed office and an office with purpose.

It's the same model we explained in detail in our article on coworking on demand for distributed teams: spaces that are used when needed, not square meters that you pay for even if nobody goes.

Comparison: Airbnb vs. Spotify vs. Dropbox

What do the companies that best retain talent have in common?

All three cases follow the same logic: from HQ to ecosystem.

The corporate headquarters stopped being the center. It becomes a hub, studio, or meeting point. It's used for something, not out of habit.

Individual work becomes decentralized. Home, nearby coworking, another city. The company enables, doesn't impose.

Savings in square meters are reinvested. In benefits, coworks, and collaborative technology. In fact, 58% of global companies plan to reduce their office footprint in the next two years.

And it makes sense: 70% of employees prioritize working near home or in a space they choose (Gallup 2025), and 58% say commutes are their main source of work stress (Indeed).

Your team is in Buenos Aires and you want to know what options are available nearby? We put together a guide with prices and locations of the best spaces in the city. 👉 Check out the best coworkings in Buenos Aires in 2026

How to apply it depending on your company size?

There's no single model. What works depends on where your company stands.

If you're a SME or startup: you probably already adopted hybrid with freedom and no empty square meter costs. The challenge is formalizing it: define the policy, measure usage, and give your team a place to meet without signing a lease.

If you're a mid-size company: you have operational flexibility, but little structure to manage spaces and people. What helps most here is visibility: knowing who goes, where, and how much it costs.

If you're a multinational: it's more likely you're increasing expected office attendance. The risk is the gap between policy and reality: low-traffic days with empty offices and teams in other cities without their own space.

Why is it so hard to replicate these models in Latin America?

Because they have an operational catch.

Airbnb and Spotify have entire real estate and workplace teams. Most companies in the region don't. And the cost of the mismatch shows up in two ways.

In spaces: average office utilization in 2025 was 54%. In Buenos Aires, vacancy hovered between 15% and 17% in the third quarter of 2025. Companies paying for square meters that are used half the week.

In management: only 28% of global companies have clear office utilization metrics. And 60% of HR leaders admit they don't know how many people actually go.

When HR tries to provide coworking access to a team spread across multiple cities, the usual appears: one contract per city, one invoice per provider, one approval per reservation. Manual management can take between 2 and 4 hours per day.

Freedom without visibility is chaos.

Do you manage spaces for a team in more than one city? There's a way to do it with a single contract and no fixed costs. 👉 Find out how Desky works for companies

And it's not just about space: it's also about the equipment they use

Decentralizing work has another operational layer that usually ends up in the hands of HR or IT: hardware.

When a company grows with remote teams, equipping people in different countries, coordinating suppliers, tracking each laptop, and handling offboarding becomes a constant burden. A new person in Bogotá needs their equipment before day one. Someone leaving in Madrid has to return it. And in the meantime, nobody really knows who has what.

First Plug handles that entire operation: acquisition, management, and recovery of hardware in over 170 countries. Plus, it has a free platform for total visibility of the company's assets.

Spaces with Desky, equipment with First Plug. Two operations that used to eat up HR hours, each solved from a single place.

👉 Get to know First Plug

Decentralize without losing control

Back to spaces: that's where Desky comes in. A single contract with access to thousands of spaces in Latin America and Europe. Your team chooses the closest or most convenient cowork, reserves a room for the quarterly offsite, or works from another city when traveling.

You see everything in a dashboard: reservations, attendance, costs, and budget by team. A single invoice. No fixed costs: you only pay for what your team uses.

It's the model of Airbnb, Spotify, and Dropbox, without needing a real estate department.

In summary

If you want maximum autonomy, look at Spotify. If you want culture without losing flexibility, look at Airbnb. If you want to redesign the office from scratch, look at Dropbox.

And if you want to apply any of the three without adding providers, contracts, or fixed costs, start with spaces.

👉 Get to know Desky's business plan

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Frequently asked questions about hybrid work and talent in 2026

What does talent value most in 2026?

Flexibility. 78% of candidates evaluate it before salary, and 7 out of 10 professionals in LATAM wouldn't accept a 100% in-office job.

Which companies allow working from anywhere?

Airbnb, Spotify, and Dropbox are the most well-known cases. Each applies it differently: Airbnb asks for one week per month in the office, Spotify doesn't require in-person days, and Dropbox uses its offices only for collaborating.

Does remote work affect company culture?

It can, if it doesn't have structure. 83% of Argentine workers seek a sense of community at work. That's why companies that function best combine freedom with in-person meetings that have a purpose.

How many office days does a hybrid model require?

It depends on the company. The most used scheme is 2 days in office and 3 remote, adopted by 29% of large and multinational companies. But increasingly, companies define in-person time by purpose (why you come) rather than by number of days.

How do you provide workspace to a distributed team without fixed costs?

With on-demand coworking platforms, which give access to multiple spaces with a single contract and charge only for use. That way your team chooses where to work and the company maintains visibility of spending.

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About the author: This article was developed by the Desky team, a flexible workspace platform for remote teams in Latin America and Europe.

Last updated: September 2026