Worker resistance to office mandates softens slightly: WFH Research
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — New data from WFH Research suggests that worker resistance to return-to-office (RTO) mandates may be easing slightly.
According to the latest survey, 49% of employees currently on hybrid schedules say they would comply with a full-time office requirement, up from 46% in late 2024.
This modest uptick comes as many employers, especially in finance and tech, renew calls for more in-person work. Yet, the data shows that nearly half of hybrid workers would still resist, either by seeking another job or quitting outright if forced back to the office full-time.
“While the needle seems to have moved, it has done so only marginally,” the WFH Research team noted.
Five years since the remote work boom
The data comes five years after the first Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (SWAA) captured the COVID-driven shift to remote work.
At its height, over 60% of paid days in the U.S. were worked remotely. Today, that figure stands near 27%, indicating a gradual but significant return to in-person work.
While many employers have made multiple attempts to bring workers back, early efforts were often stalled by new virus variants and strong employee preference for flexibility.
Now, as high-profile companies in finance and tech double down on in-office policies, the conversation around the value of physical presence is once again heating up.
‘Far-out, first-out’ labor trends
The research also highlights a new labor dynamic emerging in the wake of remote work. An analysis of anonymized payroll data shows that employees living more than 50 miles from their assigned work location—so-called “far-out” workers—are more likely to leave their jobs when companies shrink their workforce.
“Shrinking firms, whose employment growth is negative, have high separation rates overall,” the researchers found. This “far-out, first-out” trend reflects the shifting geography of labor markets in a work-from-home world.
Fast-growing firms, on the other hand, are more likely to hire these far-out workers, indicating that remote work is expanding the boundaries of traditional employment zones.
