Some of the nation’s biggest employers are stepping up efforts to get workers back into the office. Microsoft, Paramount, NBCUniversal and several others have tightened attendance policies, demanding more days on-site in the months ahead, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Yet despite the louder directives, many employees remain reluctant to return—and that resistance carries consequences well beyond the companies themselves, extending to landlords already burdened by shrinking footprints and stalled office demand.
The message from the C-suite has not aligned with personal behavior. The Wall Street Journal separately reported that nearly half of the executives imposing return-to-office mandates continue to work from home themselves, including some senior leaders issuing the orders. Surveys initially suggested the mandates would gain traction. In September 2024, a study of 764 companies that had previously gone fully remote showed nine out of ten planned to implement new return-to-office requirements in 2025. But by the following spring, data pointed to hybrid and remote models maintaining their dominance, casting doubts on whether the five-day office week could ever fully reestablish itself. Some executives have acknowledged the limits of their leverage and resigned themselves to looser compliance.
Companies nevertheless continue to spell out stricter rules. Microsoft is requiring its Pacific Northwest workforce to be in the office at least three days a week beginning February 2026. The New York Times, which long held employees to three days a week, is pressing for four. Paramount told staff in Los Angeles and New York to either commit to full five-day office attendance, as of January, or leave. NBCUniversal set its threshold at four days, offering a “voluntary exit assistance package” for those unwilling to comply. Amazon, JPMorgan and Dell have likewise asked employees to increase their office presence.
Even so, experts question how aggressively companies will enforce disciplinary measures. “There’s a lot more pressing things for companies to be worrying about right now,” Beth Steinberg, a longtime human-resources executive in the tech industry, told the Journal. She noted she had seen few consequences for workers who defied return orders, particularly if their performance was strong. Nationally, workers are still at home about 25% of the time—a rate that could shift if the labor market weakens and employees lose bargaining power.
Implementation challenges remain another hurdle. Amazon has faced logistical shortages in desks, parking and conferencing space to house hundreds of thousands of workers on-site at once. And in some cases, the push to return may serve mixed corporate goals. In its August Beige Book, the Federal Reserve noted that employers across multiple districts were reducing headcounts through attrition and layoffs, moves sometimes “encouraged, at times, by return-to-office policies” and aided by greater automation and new AI tools.
For office landlords, the standoff between employers and workers holds stark implications. If mandates fail, companies may trim even more office space. If mandates succeed, some employers may use them as a quiet means to shrink staff. Either outcome leaves property owners confronting a future that remains uncertain at best.
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