"But the mood shifted in 2025. Suddenly, management started talking about the value of in-person office attendance. Lily says she knew in the back of her mind that remote work - which was largely adopted during the pandemic - wouldn't last forever. But when the signs started to appear that she would have to spend four hours a day, at least four days a week commuting, she started to panic."
"As early as 2021, many large companies - particularly in tech and banking - began asking employees to come into the office at least two days a week. In 2025, those calls are getting louder. Major employers, including Microsoft, NBCUniversal, Paramount and JPMorgan Chase, have all ordered workers back to the office. Paramount and JPMorgan have even implemented five-day-a-week mandates."
"According to a report from Jones Lang LaSalle, 54% of Fortune 100 employees are already required to be in the office five days a week - a sharp jump from just 5% reported in 2022, and the number is expected to keep rising, even among smaller companies. (1) One survey of 849 managers found that 80% of companies are tightening return to office (RTO) enforcement, and 30% plan to phase out remote working by the end of the year (2)."
Lily and her husband left Brooklyn after their first child because their apartment was too cramped and her brother had a vacation home two hours north of New York. They sold their property in late summer 2024 and Lily's employer initially allowed commuting to Midtown twice weekly. In 2025 management began emphasizing in-person attendance and signs emerged that she would need to spend four hours a day, four days a week commuting, prompting panic. Return-to-office mandates are rising across major companies and the federal government, with substantial increases in five-day requirements and surveys showing tighter enforcement and planned phase-outs of remote work.
Read at Moneywise
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