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“We are witnessing a backlash against the return to office”: What the great workplace standoff reveals about modern work

“We are witnessing a backlash against the return to office”: What the great workplace standoff reveals about modern work

After several years in which hybrid work seemed like the undisputed future of the labor market, 2025 has arrived – and the tech industry appears to be embracing the past. A new wave of technology companies is requiring employees to return to the office, in some cases for five full days a week. No remote work at all.

Global giants such as Amazon and AT&T were among the first to demand full in-office presence as early as January. In March, after years of operating in a flexible hybrid model, Dell announced that it would now require employees to work exclusively from the office. Other companies, including Google, Meta, and Microsoft, have reduced flexibility and increased the number of required in-office days. In Israel, similar steps have been taken by Playtika and Wix. The trend has spread beyond the tech world: J.P. Morgan eliminated hybrid work entirely at the beginning of the year, as did The Washington Post.

The return-to-office wave has intensified in 2025 for several reasons: the drive for economic efficiency and improved profitability, the pendulum swing after years of remote-first policies, and the shift to an employer’s market. Yet one person stands out as a global catalyst – Elon Musk. He has called working from home “morally wrong” and a phenomenon that must be eradicated. After implementing strict in-office mandates at his companies, including a widely publicized crackdown at Twitter after its acquisition, Musk was appointed by President Trump to lead the U.S. Office of Government Efficiency, where he ended the hybrid-work era across the public sector.

But in practice, despite management’s growing insistence on physical presence, employees are in no hurry to return. Company policy is one thing; office attendance is another. Since early 2024, the rate of required in-office days has risen by 12%, yet actual attendance has grown by only 3%, according to data from FlexJobs.

Among Fortune 100 companies, more than one-third have mandated at least three office days a week, and 29 companies now require five. Despite the shift to an employer’s market, the data suggest that employees still retain significant bargaining power. In practice, few high-tech companies will dismiss top talent for showing up three days instead of four. AT&T’s development center in Israel, for instance, continues to operate on a three-day hybrid schedule, despite the company’s global return-to-office policy.

“We are identifying a clear upward trend in employees returning to offices worldwide and in Israel,” says Sarit Itzhakov, CEO of Colliers Israel, a subsidiary of the NASDAQ-listed Colliers, which specializes in real estate and strategic consulting. “The trend in Israel is progressing more slowly, but since mid-2024 it has intensified and continues into 2025. Today, we estimate that at least 65–70% of Israeli companies are encouraging employees to spend more days in the office at the expense of remote work.”

According to Itzhakov, the push is being led by financial institutions, banks and insurance companies, that now require four to five in-office days per week, while tech and defense firms are moving from two to three days up to three to four. Many companies are investing heavily to make office life more appealing: happy hours, chef-prepared meals, fitness sessions, and workshops are used as incentives. Others take an opposite route, such as tying attendance rates to performance evaluations and bonuses. Lloyds Bank in the UK, for example, factors in attendance when calculating senior executives’ bonuses. At PwC, employees’ attendance is tracked and graded using a traffic-light system: those attending less than 40% of the time receive a “red” rating. A CBRE survey found that 69% of U.S. companies now monitor attendance, up from 45% a year earlier, and 37% actively enforce return-to-office policies.

For employees, these measures represent more than just inconvenience. Critics argue they reflect a deeper shift in how organizations view workers, from valued stakeholders to costs to be managed. At Boston Consulting Group (BCG), consultants warn that mandatory office attendance contradicts the “employee-as-customer” model, undermining trust and reducing autonomy.

Moreover, research challenges the assumption that all employees perform better in the office. Tasks requiring deep focus, such as coding, are often done more efficiently at home. In many cases, executives admit that office mandates are driven less by productivity concerns and more by a desire for supervision and control, sometimes slipping into micromanagement that harms morale and retention. BCG found that sales teams who enjoy their work are 83% less likely to seek new jobs and nearly four times more likely to report high motivation. Employees working from home also report feeling more trusted and valued, while saving significantly on commuting and clothing costs.

“We are witnessing a backlash against the return to office, but it’s important to remember that flexibility has already become the standard,” says Adar Aqua, a senior manager and consultant at BCG Israel. “Even in uncertain markets, candidates view flexibility as part of a company’s value proposition, which is why many firms clarify their stance during recruitment. Employees have become accustomed to working from home and need that flexibility, while many management teams seek full office presence to create a sense of stability, connection, and organizational culture.”

Aqua recommends that companies define clear goals for any return-to-office strategy, assess employees’ perceptions, and maintain hybrid benefits where possible. “Hybrid work allows access to talent outside a company’s commuting radius,” she notes. “A sweeping return to five days in the office requires sensitivity and caution to avoid damaging employees’ trust and motivation.”

Even within organizations enforcing stricter attendance, rules rarely apply equally. R&D workers are generally granted more flexibility, while senior managers are expected to lead by example with greater presence. What is clear, however, is that employees across roles and industries want flexibility. Surveys show that 83% of tech workers prefer hybrid models, while a 2024 Gallup poll found that 71% of all workers favor hybrid work arrangements. LinkedIn data suggest that flexibility has become one of the top criteria in job selection.

Not all workers prefer remote setups, and online forums are full of debates about the pros and cons. But when employers demand five days in the office after years of hybrid work, is that considered a “worsening of conditions”?

“The law in Israel does not recognize work-from-home as a protected employee right,” explains attorney Ori Turkia-Shelas, partner and head of the Employment & Benefits Department at ERM. “The Labor Court has ruled that a return-to-office policy does not constitute a deterioration of employment terms, but rather a legitimate policy change under the employer’s discretion. However, if an employment contract explicitly provides for remote work or if in-office requirements make it impossible for an employee to continue working, the court may order that remote work be maintained.”

And what happens if employees simply refuse to comply? “Employers are entitled to enforce attendance requirements,” Turkia-Shelas says. “In some cases, they can deduct workdays from non-compliant employees or impose disciplinary measures.”

Ultimately, 2025 marks a new phase in the evolution of hybrid work. Employers are pushing for efficiency, control, and culture; employees are demanding flexibility, autonomy, and trust. The modern workplace is being redesigned, not through policy memos, but through an ongoing negotiation between employers and employees, often one conversation at a time.

Source – https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sjx5akkaxl

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