Amazon, AT&T, and JPMorgan Chase are among the companies implementing return-to-office (RTO) mandates. However, not all businesses are following this trend. According to a recent survey by Stanford and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Survey of Business Uncertainty, many firms are maintaining their hybrid or fully remote work policies for the next year.
The survey involved over 1,000 executives from various industries and was conducted between February 10 and February 21. It revealed that only 12 percent of executives with current hybrid or remote work arrangements plan to introduce RTO mandates in the coming year. Many of these mandates will require only partial onsite work.
Stanford economists Nicholas Bloom and Steven Davis, who specialize in remote work studies and collaborate on the Atlanta Fed survey, noted that despite high-profile RTO announcements by major companies last year, these changes “will barely move the needle on WFH.” They emphasized that “U.S. firms do not see any material trend to return to office.”
The researchers estimate that shifts back to onsite work would decrease the share of work-from-home days from 21.2 percent to 20.8 percent—less than half a percentage point reduction.
Even if economic conditions worsen, most executives surveyed indicated they would not alter their workplace strategies significantly. A potential recession might lead to only “a slight decline” in remote work.
Overall, employers appear content with the benefits of remote working arrangements such as reduced office space needs, improved productivity, and lower employee turnover rates. The researchers concluded: “Whatever happens in the U.S. economy over the next year, we think working from home is here to stay.”
These findings align with ongoing research by Bloom and Davis with Jose Barrero from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México on post-pandemic work trends. Their separate December 2024 survey showed only 44 percent of American workers would comply with a full RTO policy; others would seek new employment.
In a February paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, they addressed measuring variability in remote work across surveys and estimated that as of 2025, remote days account for one-quarter of paid U.S. workdays.
Bloom holds a professorship at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences while Davis is a senior fellow at Hoover Institution.
This report was initially published by Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
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