The State of the Return to Office Movement

• RTO Mandates Mount: In recent months, major companies like Amazon, Dell, and Deutsche Bank have asked employees to return to the office in some capacity. Some companies are even threatening to fire those who don't comply – a technique known as backdoor downsizing, which aims to reduce headcount without formal layoffs.
  
  
• Hybrid Work’s Enduring Popularity: Employees want to work in an office, just not full time. In 2024, 63% of American office workers who rarely or never work from home reported wanting a hybrid model (Pew, 2025). As of early 2025, 26% of British employees were working on a hybrid basis, versus 14% who were fully remote (ONS, 2025).
  
  
• Mandates Receive Pushback: While most employees are satisfied with their current working arrangements, some are pushing back on RTO mandates, which can increase commuting costs and reduce flexibility. Some 46% of Americans working remotely say they’d seek a new job if their employer stopped letting them work from home (Pew, 2025). In the UK, around one in three millennials plan to ignore RTO mandates or find new jobs if asked to return to the office five days a week (TopCV, 2025).
  
  
• Perks Encourage RTO: Some companies are successfully inviting employees back to the office, avoiding employee dissatisfaction and turnover. Take American media brand Cameo, which offered employees a $10,000 annual raise to work from its Chicago headquarters four days a week. Those outside commuting range were offered an extra $5,000 to relocate. Of Cameo's 50 employees, all 26 living in Chicago accepted the RTO deal.

For more on work attitudes, see our upcoming Consumer Life Cycle 26/27, publishing on March 31.