The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged many aspects of workers’ lives including employee wellbeing and working from both home and the office, referred to as a hybrid work model. This study investigates whether employees’ choice of work location influences wellbeing and how job role, specifically seniority and leadership responsibilities, are related to work location choice. Research was conducted within two technology and operations domains of a large Australian financial institution (n = 349) with 94% of participants under COVID-19 work from home lockdown restrictions. Our findings indicate that employees tend to experience decreased wellbeing if they desire to return to the office and that autonomy frustration contributes in part to decreased wellbeing if employees feel constrained in their ability to work from the office. In addition, our study shows that senior employees and people leaders tend to desire greater opportunities to work in the office during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. We recommend that hybrid working arrangements, as a predictor of wellbeing, be tested outside workplace lockdown conditions, when employees have greater choice over work location. This study provides the baseline comparison for such research.