Return-to-Office Mandates Spark Tough Questions for Employers and Job Seekers

Large companies like Amazon and Dell are requiring certain employees to return to the office five days a week, prompting the Wall Street Journal to ask in a December headline whether 2025 will be a “watershed year for return-to-office mandates.” It almost certainly will be for federal employees, following the termination of remote-work policies by the Trump administration in January.

Middle Market Growth recently spoke with ACG Chicago member Steven Zarch, vice president in the Finance & Accounting Search division at StevenDouglas, a national search and interim resources firm, about what he’s seeing from corporate work policies, and how employers and candidates can approach changes to in-office requirements.

Zarch—who places corporate finance candidates, including CFOs and the controllers, vice presidents and directors who report up to them—says most companies today offer hybrid work arrangements. Two or three days in the office is a typical schedule for professional services companies, he adds.

Industries like manufacturing, distribution and retail are an exception and often require four or five days in the office in circumstances where the corporate office is co-located with the production facility or retail site, according to Zarch.

In a survey conducted by ACG on LinkedIn, 30% of respondents reported that they work in an office three or four days a week, while 19% go in once or twice a week. Meanwhile, 29% said they are fully remote, and 22% responded that they work in an office five days per week.

In a survey conducted by ACG on LinkedIn, 30% of respondents reported that they work in an office three or four days a week, while 19% go in once or twice a week. Meanwhile, 29% said they are fully remote, and 22% responded that they work in an office five days per week.

Location and Lifestyle

Zarch says he has seen a push by companies to increase the number of days employees are required to work in a physical office, a trend that began several years ago amid employer concerns about corporate culture and productivity.

Companies that plan to add in-office days—or to revoke remote work altogether—should expect employees to leave the organization and brace for the long-term impact of attrition, says Zarch. The effects will be felt over time, as most employees won’t resign without another position, he notes, and a search commonly takes up to nine months. “It’s a slow leak,” he says.

An employee’s location relative to the office will play a role in their decision to leave, and it’s something a company should consider when contemplating adding days in-office. A company based in downtown Chicago, for example, might consider whether employees largely live in the city with an easy commute on public transit, or whether most are based in the suburbs and joined the organization for its work-from-home options.

Lifestyle matters, too. Are most employees at an age where they’re starting a family, or have they otherwise structured their routines around remote or hybrid work? “Some employees—men or women—might say, ‘I’m fine going in five days a week, but it’s not going to work for my spouse. It’s the way we set up our lives over the past five years,’” Zarch says.

Moreover, late-career employees tend to be more familiar with in-office setups, whereas younger staff members who spent their formative years working remotely might be less keen to leave their home desks.

Flexibility vs. Face Time

Companies should consider how their work policies affect both existing employees as well as the ability to attract new talent.

For their part, job seekers should define their parameters but also understand that a strict stance on hybrid or fully remote setups could limit their search and exclude them from a position that could be good for their career.

There are other potential trade-offs between flexibility and career advancement. When speaking with professionals early in their career, Zarch recommends finding a position where they’re in the office most of the time, with opportunities to interface directly with other staff and managers.

For professionals in mid-career or beyond, time spent working from home poses less of a threat to advancement. Zarch says he still sees people working two days in the office getting promoted.

Roles that are 100% remote are trickier. “I’ve seen it limit promotion opportunities,” Zarch says, noting there are always exceptions—at firms whose entire workforce is remote, for example, where there isn’t an advantage to being present in person.

But for those working remotely while their colleagues are together, it can be a hindrance and something to consider when evaluating a potential role, Zarch says: “If somebody is in the minority of people who are not onsite, I think, yes, their promotion opportunities are limited.”

Katie Maloney is Vice President of ACG Media.

Middle Market Growth is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To learn more about the organization and how to become a member, visit www.acg.org.