Back to Office: Tech Giants Set the Rule

Microsoft is making it compulsory for its employees to work from office at least three days a week from 2026.  In a blog post by Microsoft chief people officer Amy Coleman, on Tuesday, the company said that the policy will be rolled out in three phases.

In the first phase, it will be applied for the employees near the company headquarters at Redmond, Washington and then to staff at other locations in the US followed by employees at various locations across the  world.

Employees switched to work from home mode gduring the pandemic in 2020, owing to safety concerns. After the pandemic subsided, the work from home facility had been rolled back by several tech companies. Tacj giant Amazon had already moved to the work from office mode. 

Employees living within 50 miles of Microsoft head office will be expected to work from office by the end of February 2026, according to the blog.

Timelines and details for employees at other locations across US wouldbe announced soon, the blog said. The schedule for the employees outside US would be decided next year.

Other global tech companies have also adopted similar policies in the past two years. For instance, Google has made it mandatory for employees to work from the office at least three days a week since mid-2023. The company even linked office attendance to performance reviews, stressing that in-person collaboration drives innovation and productivity.

Similarly, Meta too rolled out a hybrid model where employees are expected to be present in the office three days per week starting from September 2023. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had earlier mentioned that in-person work helps build stronger culture and efficiency, leading to the company’s decision to tighten work-from-office norms.