Hi Dave,

We’ve all read a lot of late about big companies demanding that their employees return to the office (i.e., RTO) full-time.

Notable companies like Amazon, Disney, Google, JPMorgan Chase and Target have all ordered employees to return to the office full-time in recent months, signaling a trend as full-time office mandates have nearly doubled from 13% up to 24% since Q4 2024, acc. to the latest data from FlexIndex.

But in-spite of these supposedly strict RTO mandates, many employees aren’t adhering to them, and are still working hybrid schedules.

Based on a recent survey by WFH Research, actual in-office attendance is up just +2% since 2024 (in-spite of RTO policy requirements for office attendance nearly doubling since early 2024), which indicates that employees are still WFH some days, despite apparently stringent RTO policies.

So why are employees essentially ignoring such (supposedly) strict RTO “mandates”?

Likely because they know there are plenty of alternatives for them at companies that embrace remote and hybrid work schedules.

Speaking of, 67% of all US companies still support flexible work arrangements (with hybrid models at 43% of all firms); and 70% of employers with <500 employees are fully flexible (no requirements for in-office work).

So are RTO policies backfiring on employers who are trying to implement them?

Not necessarily.

What it’s leading to is a slightly higher % of their employees working in the office a slightly higher % of the time (vs. before the mandates were implemented).

But why are RTO mandates having such a minor effect on actual in-office attendance?

Because there are many flex alternatives at many other companies, which then creates leverage (and alternatives) for employees at firms with supposedly strict RTO policies.

Speaking of, check out all of the “flexible” work opportunities below currently posted on ExecThread:

• fully-remote exec-level job opportunities

• exec-level opportunities with hybrid work schedules

• interim / fractional exec-level job opportunities

Be sure to also check out many other fulfilling exec-level career opportunities as well as all of the Board of Director roles currently posted on ExecThread. And also check the recently-submitted career-advancing job opportunities listed beneath my signature line below.

Regards,

Joe Meyer
CEO, ExecThread
joemeyer@execthread.com