Employees Shirk RTO Mandates

New data shows that employees are, by and large, refusing to return to the office despite incessant calls for them to do so.

The Big Picture: COVID brought about one major change to the workplace — WFH arrangements. While employers would love to close Pandora’s box in the name of productivity, loyalty, and teamwork, employees have redesigned their lives around the newfound flexibility — and have no intention of giving it up.

Behind The Offices: In 2022, Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom found that workers would ignore a full-time RTO mandate from their employers… and they weren’t kidding.

• Back in 2023, it seemed as if businesses were settling into a hybrid-work schedule — three days at the office, two days at home.
• But in the past year, blue-chip companies like JPMorgan Chase, Google, Amazon, and many others demanded that employees return full-time — a 10% jump in requests — or face layoffs.
• While that would typically translate to people flooding back to their cubicles, attendance has reportedly risen by less than 2%.
• Also, 67% of companies (and 70% with fewer than 500 employees) are still going by a hybrid policy, according to Fast Company.

Final Warning: The verdict seems to be that hybrid has officially won. Even at companies that mandate five-day in-office attendance, most operate with a hybrid policy in practice — at least according to Occuspace, a sensor-tech firm used by Fortune 500 companies to track badge swipes.

Prediction: Job openings that tout remote or hybrid work are down multiple percentage points this year, so companies that market flexible arrangements may still get the most attention… even in a down employment market.