Dive Brief:
- Only 7% of U.S. workers said they would quit their jobs over a mandatory return-to-office policy, according to a survey of 1,000 people fielded last December by MyPerfectResume. That number is down from 51% who said the same thing in January 2025.
- Looking ahead, 74% of workers said they expected to have the same or less bargaining power to demand flexibility in 2026 as they did in 2025, and 46% said they expected organizations to become stricter about mandating on-site attendance. Another 40% said they believed on-site workers would be favored for pay and promotions.
- Nearly three-quarters of workers (73%) said they expected their employers to increase the use of surveillance tools in order to enforce accountability regarding return-to-office policies, and another 44% of employees surveyed said they believed at least half of U.S. companies would eliminate remote work by the end of 2026.
Dive Insight:
Between last year and this year, one of the most notable changes was a decline in employee resistance when it came to RTO policies, per the survey.
“Remote work is no longer seen as a guarantee,” the report said. “It’s becoming a privilege workers feel they must protect.” The report also said workers “overwhelmingly view RTO as a business strategy, not a cultural one.”
Workers surveyed attributed the RTO push to economics rather than office culture or the need for collaboration. Nearly half (47%) said that RTO was being driven by productivity concerns, while 18% said it was due to leadership preference. Only 11% attributed the RTO move to real-estate cost justification, with another 11% crediting quiet head count reduction.
“As job security tightens, companies are reclaiming authority over where and how employees work,” the report said. “For millions of workers, 2026 won’t be about resisting RTO. It will be about adapting to it.”
A September poll from Gallup found that many employers are allowing managers, teams and individuals to navigate the details of hybrid work models. At the time of the poll, 51% of U.S. organizations had hybrid arrangements, as compared to 28% that were fully remote and 21% that were exclusively on-site.
