RTO: Are Firms Shooting Themselves in the Foot with Return-to-Office Mandates?Some claim that draconian RTO rules are nothing but camouflaged layoffs. While companies are worried top performers may quit, many are willing to take the risk.

As a reversal of their ‘work from anywhere’ policies, a number of major tech companies are now requiring their employees to return to the office cubicle 4 to 5 days a week—or lose their job.

Who is doing it?

Here are some of the companies that have implemented strict return-to-office policies that require employees to be in the office 4 to 5 days a week.

Tesla’s RTO Mandate

In early June 2022, Elon Musk broke the news that Tesla would soon require everyone to be in office for at least (*at least*) 40 hours a week. The tone of Musk’s email suggested the CEO was not willing to compromise: “If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned,” he wrote.

In the email, Elon Musk specifically called out senior-level employees, saying that the more senior one’s position is, the more visible their presence should be. According to Tesla’s CEO, that’s what it takes to “ship a great product.”

It’s hard to argue with the fact that nothing beats leading by example. At the same time, Tesla’s decision was rather unpopular: when the company started monitoring attendance, it impacted people’s morale, not to mention that employees returning to the office all at once created logistics issues, causing a shortage of parking spots, desks, and chairs.

Amazon’s RTO Policy

When Amazon announced its RTO stance, CEO Andy Jassy initially said that the company’s “culture was unique” and that Amazon wished to “operate like the world’s largest startup” moving forward. He then delicately stated that Amazon employees would be expected to be in the office full time “outside of extenuating circumstances” (emphasis added by ObjectStyle):

Before the pandemic, not everybody was in the office five days a week, every week. If you or your child were sick, if you had some sort of house emergency, if you were on the road seeing customers or partners, if you needed a day or two to finish coding in a more isolated environment, people worked remotely. This was understood, and will be moving forward as well.

Lastly, Amazon stated it was going to enforce the new policy starting January 2, 2025.

While Amazon’s CEO attempted to soften the blow, its RTO policy is not essentially different from Tesla’s—it still requires employees to be in the office five days a week, most weeks.

Now, Amazon has a larger headcount than Tesla (1,608,000 vs 140,000 employees), so its RTO policy announcement drew even more criticism. Some suggested the company overhired during the pandemic and is now trying to reduce headcount by enforcing its RTO rules. For one, remote-work expert Nicholas Bloom believes Amazon’s mandate to be a form of “backdoor layoffs.” In fact, 73% of Amazon employees who filled out an anonymous survey on Blind said they were considering looking for another job because of the company’s RTO policy.

Some policy critics took to Reddit to voice their opinions.

Dell’s RTO Policy

Another IT giant, Dell, has been rather vague about its return-to-the-office stance. In February 2024, the company announced that remote employees would not be able to get a promotion or change their role. However, that measure did not incentivise Dell employees to return to their work desks. Then in March Dell told its workforce they were expected in the office 3 days a week. Later, at the end of September, Dell sent a memo to its global sales team, emphasizing that sales managers work better when there is an in-person connection.

With that in mind, starting Monday, Sept 30th, the expectation is that ALL global sales team members who can work from a Dell office be onsite five days a week, regardless of role. Field sellers who can’t go into a Dell office should prioritize time spent in person with customers and partners.

So it seems it’s only Dell’s sales team members who are required to show up to the office 5 days a week. The company also expressed understanding of anyone’s individual circumstances that may not allow them to make the transition overnight. Dell’s spokesperson said:

We’re asking that our global sales team make their best effort to make it into the office or to a customer or partner location while they make changes in their personal lives to get back into the office. We emphasize flexibility and encourage team members to collaborate with their managers to accommodate their specific needs during this transition.

Salesforce’s RTO Mandate

Just a couple of years ago, Salesforce was one of those companies that said RTO mandates were “never going to work”. In 2024, however, it issued its own RTO mandate, requiring select employees to return to the office five days a week starting October 1, 2024.

In all fairness, Salesforce’s mandate is not a blanket policy—it concerns roles for which it makes sense to be present on site: datacenter engineers, onsite support technicians, among others.

Who is still hybrid (3 days a week)?

A number of tech giants—famously, Google, Apple, and Meta—are keeping their work environments hybrid for now, requesting employees to work from the office only 3 days a week.

Google was fully remote until April, 2022, when the company ordered employees to be back at the office a minimum of three days per week. Apple followed suit shortly, requiring all corporate employees to work from the office on three selected days from September 5, 2022. As for Meta, it mandated workers to spend at least 50% of the time in the office in spring 2022, but went on to an obligatory 3-days-in-office rule, effective September 5, 2023.

In January 2024, IBM issued a memo that required executive or management positions in the US to relocate within commuting distance by August 2024. The company said those employees should be back at the office at least three days a week. Those who did not comply, would be let go, it seemed.

On another note, there is talk about a separate IBM RTO mandate for software roles. However, it appears that it hasn’t been strict enough to warrant public outcry.

Research indicates that 70% of companies plan to either maintain or increase the number of days employees are required to be at the office in 2025. Rumor has it that Apple might shift to a 5-days-in-office policy in Q1, 2025.

Company	RTO Date	Days in the Office	Who It Affects
Tesla	June 2022	5	Everybody
Amazon	January 2025	5	Everybody
Dell	February 2024	5	Sales
Salesforce	October 2024	5	– Sales – Workplace services – Data center engineering – Onsite support technicians
Google	September 2022	3	Everybody
Meta	September 2023	3	Everybody
IBM	August 2024	3	Executive and management roles

Who is still fully remote?

In light of recent RTO mandates popping up like mushrooms after spring showers, Microsoft’s name stands out. The company claimed repeatedly that it will allow its employees to work remotely ‘unless productivity drops.’

Coincidentally, ObjectStyle is another company that went mostly remote in March 2020, and continues to have a work-from-anywhere policy to this day.

Impacts of RTO Policies on Employee Engagement

It’s hard to tell how much great talent has jumped ship at any given company because of return-to-office rules. In many cases, companies have shown a willingness to make exceptions for exceptional performers.

At the same time, evidence already exists that morale has taken a hit across companies that introduced strict RTO mandates. A classic HR mantra is that poor employee engagement costs companies money because it impacts performance. HR professionals have been observing symptoms of that lately.

1. De Facto Absenteeism Is On the Rise

According to a Bamboo survey, 42% of employees come to work only to be seen by their bosses. So, while they are present at work in body, they may not be fully present/engaged in spirit.

2. The ‘Green Status’ Effect

Remote employees now feel increased pressure to be online as much as possible. The same Bamboo study discovered that 64% of remote employees keep their messaging apps open so that the ‘active’ status is displayed to their work mates.

3. Morale Has Dropped Significantly

According to multiple reports, what’s emerging now is a toxic ‘workplace surveillance culture’ that breeds distrust and suspicion. It makes employees unhappy and leads to worker dissatisfaction and disengagement.

A recent Gallop report revealed that the global cost of employee disengagement has just reached an all-time high: $8.8 trillion (tri-llion!) annually. This is equivalent to almost 10% of global GDP.

4. Companies Missing Out on Great Talent

Many human resources specialists have noted that harsh RTO rules will limit companies’ ability to find and retain top talent. Since the world went largely remote in 2020, many in the workforce have re-organized their lives around the new paradigm. And they aren’t willing to go back to their office cubicles. Hence, companies that base their hiring decisions on geographic proximity, rather than on employees’ skills and capabilities, may end up missing out on a lot of great talent out there.

TL;DR

In recent years, several major tech companies—including Tesla, Amazon, Dell, and Salesforce—have introduced strict return-to-office (RTO) mandates, requiring employees to be in the office four to five days a week. The shift has sparked controversy, with some viewing RTO policies as “camouflaged layoffs.”

While companies claim in-person work improves productivity, RTO mandates have led to logistics issues, decreased morale, and concerns over employee engagement. Some companies, like Google, Apple, and Meta, are maintaining hybrid models, whereas Microsoft and others continue with flexible remote options. Critics argue that harsh RTO policies could hinder talent retention, as many employees are not willing to return to the office full-time.

Research shows that strict RTO policies may negatively impact employee satisfaction and engagement, costing companies billions in lost productivity.

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