A number of large companies have recently announced that employees who’ve been working from home (WFH) must return to office (RTO) to varying degrees:
- Amazon: Amazon has announced that employees are required to return to the office five days a week starting January 2025.
- Starbucks: Starbucks mandates that employees work in the office three days a week3.
- Disney: Disney requires employees to be in the office four days a week.
- JPMorgan: JPMorgan employees are required to report to the office at least three times a week.
- Goldman Sachs: Goldman Sachs has also implemented a full return-to-office mandate.
Before long, it will be your turn to set a longer-term policy, if you’ve not already done so!
CEOs struggle with this from a culture, morale and hiring perspective as many workers have become very resistant, not always without reason, to giving up the benefits of working from home. Before you make this increasingly important decision, check out this executive summary of one company’s hybrid “A/B Testing” on this question. The company, Trip.com, had half the employees work from home 3 days per week and the other half a full five day week.
Their findings may help you when you have to make a decision on hybrid work. Read more in the researchers’ summary article in HBR: One Company A/B Tested Hybrid Work. Here’s What They Found.
