Scouring the office for an empty conference room. Spending lunch on an outdoor bench for a few minutes of quiet. Stacking meetings into one part of the day so you can spend the rest uninterrupted.
If you identify as an introvert, these habits may sound familiar.
Introverts make up roughly 40 to 50% of the workforce, though estimates vary, organizational psychologist Anique van der Putten told Business Insider. They typically prefer lower levels of external stimulation and need time alone to recharge after prolonged social interaction or other highly stimulating experiences, she said.
During the pandemic, many white-collar introverts were able to enjoy a setup that played to their strengths: remote work. Now, as employers double down on return-to-office mandates and tighten hybrid policies, offices are filling up again and introverts are relearning how to navigate workplaces that reward interaction, visibility, and spontaneous collaboration.
Finding quiet
Pandemic-era remote work introduced workers to the possibility of a new arrangement, with less background noise, fewer unplanned conversations, and reduced pressure to remain socially available throughout the day, Nargiza Noimann-Zander, a clinical psychologist and neuroscience researcher, told Business Insider.
"Returning to the office can therefore feel more intense than it did before, because people have now experienced an alternative," wrote Noimann-Zander via email.
Although return-to-office mandates have been in place for some time, office attendance has continued to climb and is now near its post-pandemic high, with weekly office occupancy averaging about 52.5%, according to data from physical security and property technology company Kastle.
Linda Le, a tech recruiter who describes herself as a "proud introvert" on LinkedIn, said that the transition back to in-person work felt overwhelming, especially since her job already requires a lot of interaction. She said at first she "cried a lot" and felt overstimulated due to the constant background noise and interruptions.
"I remember I went to a room and I had a panic attack," Le said.
Some workers have developed rituals to manage feeling overstimulated. Charles Broomfield, a 26-year-old engineering analyst at Google, said he keeps his headphones on during the day and prefers to eat meals alone, unless someone asks to join him.
"I like the quiet time and that space and that recharge," said Broomfield, who goes to the office five days a week.
Catherine Fadashe, who works in marketing and communications in London, said returning to the office in 2023 was a "huge adjustment." These days, after working in person, she spends an hour in complete silence and avoiding social media to decompress. On the three days a week she goes in, she imagines she's about to go onstage.
"As the lift doors are opening, I feel like, 'this is my entrance,'" Fadashe previously told Business Insider. "I have a mental countdown."
How offices are evolving
As more workers return to the office, a number of companies, including KPMG and Superhuman, are redesigning offices to better support different working styles — and make employees want to spend more time in them.
Data from Kastle shows that office attendance is nearly 20% higher in what it calls "A+ office buildings," or those with newer offices with modern designs and premium amenities.
Cisco redesigned its London office to accommodate neurodiverse workers and installed a soundproof wellness room with no technology for employees who want a break from screens. Bob Cicero, a workplace director at Cisco who specializes in smart buildings and real-estate, said that employees hang out there after their commute to "reset their minds."
Stephanie Miller, a spokesperson for Hok, a design firm that implements offices that support various working needs, told Business Insider that office design fundamentally impacts productivity.
"If you can find the environment that supports your sensory levels and allows you to not be distracted by the noise, the smell, the pattern, you're going to be able to be more focused and more productive," Miller said.
Kelly Dubisar, a design director at Gensler, which has designed offices for companies including Nvidia, said the firm has seen growing demand since the pandemic for offices that support a wider range of working styles.
Newer offices may include dedicated collaboration spaces, quiet focus rooms with dim lighting, and flexible work areas that give workers more control over noise and stimulation. Gensler's 2026 Workplace Survey, based on responses from over 16,000 full-time office-based workers, suggests that employees are more likely to view their workplace as effective when they offer manageable noise levels, flexible furniture, updated technology, and spaces for focused work and rest.
Gensler's San Francisco office, features a wide variety of furniture and lighting options to address specific sensory needs. It also has setups to support different thermal and acoustic preferences. For example, one of its areas, called The Vault, has a deep-focus quiet space that is dark and conversation-free.
For some workers, those types of quiet corners and ooms have become a refuge. Erin Mantz, a communications worker, said that the "nooks and crannies and quiet rooms" in the various offices she's worked at since the pandemic help her focus.
Van der Putten said that some people make the assumption that introverts are shy or anxious, but that's not necessarily true. While many introverts told Business Insider they enjoyed a quiet space to recharge at work, most weren't asking for offices to become silent and enjoyed collaborating with coworkers face-to-face. However, they wanted control over when those interactions happened and space to recharge afterward.
"I don't dread going to the office," Le said, adding that she chats with her coworkers throughout the day, and goes to quiet spaces when she wants to focus or hop on calls.
