Microsoft has announced that employees will be required to work from the office at least three days a week starting next year, beginning with staff based near its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, the tech giant said in a blog post on Tuesday.
Microsoft first introduced a flexible work policy in late 2020, when employees returned to offices after pandemic-forced closures. The policy officially allowed workers to work remotely at least half of the time without approval, though in practice, it was more lenient, with most employees continuing to work from home most of the time.
Who will this policy apply to?
The new policy will be rolled out in three phases, starting with employees near the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Gradually, it will be extended to other locations in the United States and international employees, Microsoft’s chief people officer Amy Coleman wrote in the blog.
“For some of you, this is not a change. For others this may be a bigger adjustment, which is exactly why we’re providing time to plan thoughtfully,” Coleman said in the blog.
Employees living within 50 miles of Microsoft’s head office will be expected to work on-site three days a week by the end of February 2026, the blog said.
The company added that timelines and details for additional US office locations will be announced soon. Whereas for employees outside the US, the company will begin planning only in 2026.
Companies encourage work-from-office
The remote-work culture gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, when companies shifted to a work-from-home setup due to the health and safety concerns of their employees.
However, some tech firms have begun to roll back those policies and now require employees to return to offices.
Microsoft’s cross-town rival, Amazon, also introduced a similar policy last year, mandating employees to work on-site five days a week. This change, contrary to an earlier three-day work-from-office mandate, sparked debate as the Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman said, “staffers who don’t agree with Amazon’s new policy can leave,” CNBC reported earlier.
Other companies joining this trend include Meta, JP Morgan, Wipro, Flipkart, and Google.