How to weather the RTO storm when you’re remote-first—and want to keep it that way

If you took all the recent news articles at face value, you’d think that remote and hybrid work will be non-existent by the end of 2025. Apparently, we’re all heading back to the office full-time whether we like it or not! While we can’t deny there’s been plenty of discussion around return to office (RTO) mandates, those of us who work in the remote and hybrid industries are seeing a discrepancy in what’s being said by Elon Musk and other senior leaders at the likes of Dell and Amazon, and what real people want.

It’s always useful to remember that big corporations may bend the truth around remote work to their advantage. Some will spin it so it seems that everyone except ‘you’ is simply dying to go back to full-time, inflexible employment. Otherwise, they may use the popularity of flexible work to force workers to quit without having to offer them ethical - but expensive - redundancy packages—something Musk has openly admitted to.

The point is, we can hear over and over again from these CEOs that flexible work was just a fleeting pandemic luxury, but that doesn’t make it the truth. And it doesn’t mean you should abandon remote or hybrid work if it’s benefitting you or your teams.

How do employees REALLY feel about flexible work in 2025?

According to WTW’s Global Benefit Attitudes Survey, 53% of remote workers still insist they would change jobs within 12 months if their employer mandates a full-time RTO policy. This attitude appears to be playing out in real-time, with Forbes reporting that “The mismatch between workers’ desire for remote work flexibility and employers’ RTO mandates has caused workers to detach from their jobs—a trend Gallup calls, “The Great Detachment.”

Employees are still heavily invested in flexible work and are becoming detached and despondent when such a benefit is taken away. So, unless you’re taking the controversial route of deliberately making your employees want to quit, there’s every reason to continue flexible work practices at your company in 2025.

Tips on weathering the RTO storm

Currently, one of the most important things you can do as a company or team leader is to listen to your people, rather than the noise being made by tech billionaires or stubborn CEOs. Happy, rested, and valued employees are still one of the greatest investments a company can make, from both a financial and branding perspective. So, if your people value a better work-life balance, the opportunity to travel and work from anywhere, or find working from home more accessible, giving them that opportunity could end up being a lucrative one.

Remember also that we are still in the infancy of a significant shift in modern ways of working—as such, there’s bound to be some pushback. Last year, economists reported that remote work has solidified its position as a major labor market shift—just as the five-day working week was back in the early 20th century. Contrary to what we’re hearing, forward-thinking companies everywhere are continuing to embrace the modern, flexible work week. So, if you were ever in any doubt, flexible work isn’t holding onto the past. It’s pushing forward towards an inevitable future.

At Remotify, we believe that the best workplaces are flexible workplaces. Our Employer of Record service makes transitioning to remote work simple, seamless and effective. Want to find out more about how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today.