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What Does Return-to-Office Look Like Now?

TikTok is bringing most of its U.S. workforce back to the office five days a week, adding another major technology company to the growing list of employers moving away from hybrid work.Beginning in September, most U.S. employees who currently work hybrid schedules will be expected to work from the office every day, Business Insider reported this week. The policy will apply across functions including product, marketing, and advertising sales.The move represents a significant escalation from the hybrid schedules that became standard across much of the tech industry after the pandemic. Companies including Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs have maintained five-day office policies since 2025, pointing to company culture, collaboration, and effectiveness as reasons for bringing employees back. Meanwhile, some companies are framing return-to-office mandates as a way to improve employee well-being. Monique Scroggins, VP of HR total rewards and operations at Lloyds Banking Group, and her team have launched a cost-containment strategy centered on wellness programs. “We focused on return-to-office engagement and having people on site teaching you how to eat clean and healthy, and encouraging you to take walks on your lunch break,” she said during a panel discussion at From Day One’s June virtual conference.The shift suggests that for some organizations, the office is increasingly being positioned as more than a place to work. While the five-day work week hasn’t become the universal standard yet, with 10% more workers still working from home than in 2019, for HR leaders, the growing divide creates a strategic question: What does an employer gain by requiring employees to be in the office, and is that benefit worth the tradeoff in flexibility?Data from Gallup finds that five in 10 full-time U.S. employees have remote-capable jobs, about one-third prefer fully remote work, and less than 10% prefer to work on-site. The same study found that hybrid workers feel strongly about the benefits they experience from their schedule. “In fact, six in 10 remote-capable employees who work exclusively remotely now say they’re extremely likely to look for a new job if remote flexibility is taken away,” the report states.That gap between employer priorities and employee preferences could make RTO policies a retention issue as much as a workplace strategy. If employees view flexibility as a meaningful part of their compensation, taking it away could push some workers to look elsewhere, particularly as hybrid and remote jobs remain available at other companies.For HR leaders, the challenge is making the case for why employees need to be in the office rather than simply mandating that they be there. If collaboration, culture, learning, or well-being are the goals, companies will need to show employees what they gain from being on-site.Erin Behrens is an associate editor at From Day One(Photo by skynesher/iStock)