UK companies ordering staff back to the office this year

All good things must come to an end. For some UK workers, that includes remote working, thanks to the number of large employers that have rolled out return to office (RTO) policies.

While small businesses have leaned into flexible working, large employers are putting their foot down, with more RTO mandates expected in 2026. Bosses might have embraced hybrid or remote working post-COVID, but the message now is simple: “get back to work, or wave goodbye to a promotion.”

We’re keeping track of all the businesses that have U-turned on remote work below. We’ll also explore their motivation for doing so and the potential impact on employees.

Novo Nordisk

Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced its new full-time return-to-office mandate in September 2025.

The new policy, which will be enforced from January 2026, will require its office-based staff to work in-person for five days a week. However, flexibility can still be arranged between managers and employees.

“This is designed to foster a stronger sense of belonging, strengthen relationships, enhance collaboration and accelerate decision-making processes,” a Novo spokesperson said via email.

This news came just one day after the company announced plans to cut 9,000 jobs as part of a major restructuring.

Paramount

In September 2025, Paramount Global (which includes Channel 5 and other UK operations) announced a full RTO policy for its international employees, following a merger with media company Skydance.

The policy is expected to roll out in phases, with US employees required to attend the office five days a week from January 2026. Phase two of the global rollout will apply to the UK and other international offices later in 2026, though no official date has been announced yet.

Part of the merger also includes workplace redundancies on the horizon, with plans to cut 2,000 jobs company-wide.

John Lewis

From July 2025, employees of John Lewis’s buying and merchandising departments must either work in-office, in-store, or with brands and suppliers three days a week. The company told The Retail Gazette that this move was about “creating an environment where teams can learn and develop.”

Like many businesses, John Lewis adopted a hybrid working model at the end of the COVID-19 lockdown, and has maintained it for most of its employees since.

At the start of June, a spokesperson for the company said: “We’re taking steps to encourage team members to spend time together in our offices and stores, or meeting brands and suppliers – and balancing this with working remotely.”

IKEA

From September 2025, furniture retailer IKEA confirmed it will require its head office staff to work on-site for 12 days per month, up from the previous policy of eight days.

In a statement released in June 2025, the famous flatpack firm argued that the move is to improve teamwork and collaboration.

“This shift supports our belief that shared spaces strengthen our culture, spark creativity, and empower us to thrive together – while preserving the flexibility our co-workers value,” a spokesperson for the company said.

Morrisons

In June 2025, Morrisons ordered its head office staff to work on-site for five days a week — scrapping its previous policy of a 4.5-day work week.

“In the context of an intensely competitive UK grocery market and increased cost pressures, we have taken the difficult decision to ask our head office colleagues to move from a 4.5-day to a full five-day working week,” a Morrisons spokesperson said. “This will help improve customer service and ensure shelves are better stocked.”

However, they added that staff will still be allowed to balance remote and in-office working, and will be able to make flexible working requests.

HSBC

Despite downsizing its office footprint, the major bank warned staff in May 2025 that they would risk pay cuts if they don’t attend the office three days a week.

HSBC introduced its new RTO policy last year, telling employees that they were expected to spend 60% of their time in the office or with clients. But, from September 2025, line managers began receiving monthly attendance reports flagging employees who fail to meet the minimum requirement of office days.

But the bank’s smaller office space will make it difficult to accommodate all employees who are on-site at the same time. Elizabeth Willetts, founder and director of Investing in Women, told People Management: “The whole point of in-person work is connection and collaboration. If the space doesn’t support that, people will resent being there.”

WPP

Marketing services company WPP announced its RTO policy in January 2025, requiring employees to attend the office an average of four days per week from April. It also specifically mandates attendance on at least two Fridays each month.

Previously, WPP’s individual agencies had more flexibility, with headquarters staff usually required to be in the office three days a week.

However, London-based staff have argued that offices don’t have the capacity for so many employees at once, citing issues like a lack of available screens to connect laptops, missing cables, no additional desks, and bad WiFi. Morale was also reported to be low.

Uber

In an April 2025 memo, Uber informed staff that it would increase its office attendance requirement from two days to three days per week.

The company’s new policy quickly prompted backlash from employees in internal forums. However, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that he was comfortable with employees leaving the company if they disagreed with the decision.

“These changes may push some employees away, but the good news is the economy is still really strong. The job market is strong,” Khosrowshahi stated. “People who work at Uber, they have lots of opportunities everywhere.”

Vodafone

In March 2025, reports began circulating that Vodafone employees had been told to spend a minimum of eight days in the office per month. Otherwise, they could miss out on bonuses and other perks.

In a “Hybrid Working at Vodafone” memo, reportedly seen by The Register, staff were told that they could face disciplinary action if they did not comply.

It’s a strange look for the company that has facilitated home working for many across the country. However, research from Startups shows that hybrid working is the most popular work model in the UK today.

JP Morgan Chase

At the beginning of the year, investment banking company JP Morgan Chase implemented a full-time RTO policy for its employees, requiring them to work from the office five days a week. However, the company quickly found that its Canary Wharf office couldn’t accommodate all 14,000 of its London-based staff.

Unsurprisingly, this change has been met with backlash from employees. An online petition was also created by workers, urging the company to reinstate its previous hybrid policy of two days per week.

However, CEO Jamie Dimon dismissed the petition and stood by the company’s RTO policy, stating that working in-person helps junior bankers learn on the job.

“If you look back on your careers, you learned a little bit from the apprentice system,” Dimon said. “You were with other people who took you on a sales call or told you how to handle a mistake or something like that. It doesn’t happen when you’re in a basement on Zoom.”

Barclays

While a full RTO mandate might not yet have been announced, multinational bank Barclays recently announced that it is toughening its hybrid working policy.

In a memo sent to 85,000 employees, the company said it now expects its staff to come into the office for three days a week, not two. A spokesperson added: “We recognise the benefits of balancing flexibility for colleagues with the importance of working together [in] physical locations.”

The change means Barclays is following in the footsteps of other banking giants, including Santander. However, fintech rival Revolut has confirmed it will not compromise on its hybrid work policy.

Starling

Starling Bank has found itself embroiled in controversy after its new CEO, Raman Bhatia, enforced a strict return-to-office mandate in early November. The abrupt decision, requiring hybrid workers to clock in at least 10 days a month, has sparked widespread discontent among staff.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of a tumultuous period for Starling. The company recently faced a hefty £29 million fine from the Financial Conduct Authority and is now grappling with internal dissent. Employees have raised concerns about inadequate office space, disrupted work-life balance, and a perceived erosion of company culture.

Asda

Asda announced a return to office policy for staff at the start of November 2024. From January 2025, over 5,000 office staff members at the firm’s head office were required to work in-office at least three days per week. The company also cut several roles to streamline operations.

The changes are apparently aimed at strengthening Asda’s position for 2025. The supermarket has been struggling with falling staff confidence. In August 2024, we reported that the chain had repeatedly paid workers late, despite advertising a £10M salary for its empty CEO chair. The company is also reportedly introducing a stricter sick pay policy, though no changes have been carried out yet.

McKinsey

North American consultancy firm McKinsey & Co is keeping mum about its remote work policy. In late September 2024, senior partners in Miami and Boston were reportedly warned that they would soon be asked to come into the office more. Currently, employees can work from home whenever they like if they are not working on a project or meeting clients.

McKinsey has around 1,000 UK employees, so its RTO mandate will likely come across the pond. For now, though, staff are waiting on an official announcement. Will this one do? “Employees consistently point to greater productivity and reduced burnout as primary benefits [of hybrid work]”, the company said in its latest Women in the Workplace report.

Amazon

Amazon delivered a less-than-welcome package to employees last year, when it told admin staff they would need to return to the office full-time from January 2025. The tech giant has argued that its employees will be able to better “invent, collaborate, and be connected” if they are based in the workplace. Staff had been allowed to work remotely two days a week.

Amazon’s RTO mandate comes off the back of a near 10% pay rise for thousands of UK workers, suggesting that the move might have been a way to soften up employees by bribing them with a cushty pay packet. In March 2024, a report by BBC Worklife found that US companies had raised pay by almost 33% for in-person roles since March 2023.

Santander

Santander has banked on a return to office for staff. In an employee memo, circulated mid-September 2024, the banking giant told its 10,000-strong workforce they must attend the workplace at least three days a week. The policy took full effect at the end of the year, when employees were expected to be in at least 12 days per month.

This new, hybrid policy is not a huge change from the bank’s previous requirement of two to three days a week. But it is emblematic of a wider pushback against remote working in the banking sector. Further down this page, workers at Barclays and Deutsche Bank have also been told to return to the office for three days a week.

THG

Global ecommerce company THG, previously known as The Hut Group, demanded that staff return head office in Manchester for five days a week from 19 August 2024. The announcement coincides with a mass layoff at the firm. Around 171 jobs were also expected to be axed.

THG, which owns various online retail brands including LookFantastic and MyProtein, previously had a restricted hybrid working policy in place. Employees had been expected to come into the office for four days a week, with the option to work from home one day a week with their manager’s approval.

By announcing an RTO at the same time as making redundancies, THG added fuel to the rumours that many companies are implementing an RTO mandate in the hope that it will make employees quit.

Salesforce

Software brand Salesforce issued an RTO ultimatum to its global workforce last year, after it called for a return to office in an internal memo.

Under the mandate, sales, HR, engineering, and support roles will be required to come to the office four to five days a week from October. All other team members will need to attend for three days per week.

The move represents a 180 for the company, whose head UK office is based in London. Just two years ago, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff declared publicly that “office mandates are never going to work.”

The push is likely due to increased emphasis being placed on productivity and profits from investors. According to People Management, Salesforce cut 4,000 customer support jobs in favour of AI technology.

Tesco

At the beginning of July 2024, Tesco announced it was upping the number of days that its admin staff are required to work in-office. As of September 2024, employees are now required to work from the office for three days per week, up from the previous two days. It said it hopes the move will build a collaborative work culture.

Tesco previously became the first UK supermarket chain to give all its workers the right to request flexible working from day one. It has now said it will attempt to honour those requests “where possible”.

Tesco UK & ROI people director James Goodman said: “Since launching our approach to hybrid working in 2022, we’ve learned a lot about the benefits that a hybrid model brings. We’ve reviewed our policy so that we can maximise the best bits of hybrid working, while also making sure we’re able to build and support high-performing teams with a collaborative culture.”

Asos

Fashion retail marketplace, Asos first introduced its RTO policy in 2023. Some employees are expected to work from the office five days per week, but some are not adhering to the rules. In late June 2024, The Times reported that Asos had told its staff that virtual meetings are becoming “detrimental” to company performance.

The online fashion retailer said it would take disciplinary action if employees were found to be disobeying the policy. It argued that workers need to see and feel the clothes in a way that’s “impossible virtually”.

It added that during other meetings, such as project discussions and presentations, virtual attendance from some invitees was putting a “strain” on the wider team. In November 2025, group sales for the brand declined by 14%.

Boots

Back in March 2024, beauty chain Boots announced it would ask 3,900 administrative staff to return to its shiny white walls for five days a week by September (up from three). The firm said it gave remote work the boot because of its poor impact on company culture.

Perhaps expecting a backlash from employees, Boots immediately clarified that remote work wouldn’t be discarded just yet. “There will of course still be times when working from home is necessary for either personal or business reasons,” said a spokesperson.

Putting the onus on managers to oversee the return to the office might backfire, however. According to research by Owl Labs, 70% of UK managers have admitted to allowing staff to work remotely from home in defiance of company policy.

JD Sports

At the start of May 2024, JD Sports told employees based in its head office in Bury that they must return to the office for at least four days a week. The new rules took place in July. Previously, staff at the sports retailer could work from home as often as they liked.

JD, which has a global workforce of 51,297 employees, claimed it had changed its policy to ensure a fair approach for all staff. However, like Boots, JD managers will be asked to appraise requests for flexible work, suggesting that approvals will still be subject to personal bias.

Manchester United

There was no home advantage for Manchester United staff in 2024. The club’s minority-owner, Jim Ratclife, announced that its 1,000 workers will no longer be given work-from-home privileges during an all-staff meeting. Workers who do not want to work from the office were given a cash bonus to resign.

So why has remote work been shown a red card? Ratcliffe thinks it impacts productivity. He revealed email traffic fell by 20% when teams worked from home on Friday.

Paranoia about remote workers slacking on the job has caused many companies to lean into employee monitoring software. Also known as ‘tattleware’, these methods can have the opposite effect, however, as knocking staff morale can lead to a decrease in output.

Laing O’Rourke

As the construction firm behind the much-delayed HS2 project, Laing O’Rourke has faced plenty of challenges over the past few years. Still, the Dartford-based business appears to see remote work as its biggest threat.

The company told its 8,000-strong workforce to return to the office full-time in April 2024, and attributed the shift to a “challenging FY2023 financial performance”.

In an email, Group Chief Operating Officer Cathal O’Rourke also blamed low employee engagement for the change. “Our offices are too often sparsely populated and our lack of face-to-face connectivity and collaboration has added to the challenges.”

Civil Service

More than half a million people are employed in Civil Service roles. On average, they work just 2.1 days at their workplaces. Efforts to improve attendance have so far had little impact.

The latest campaign began in January, when the Cabinet Office announced that Civil Service managers who failed to improve office attendance would face disciplinary action. Staff had been previously instructed to work in-office at least three days per week.

Staff have reacted poorly to the mandate, arguing that a return to work could make them less productive. In June 2025, civil servants, particularly members of the PCS Union, protested against its “rigid” attendance policy, as well as the closure of six of its offices.

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank, which employs more than 7,000 people across Birmingham and London, instructed staff to return to work for at least three days a week, starting in June 2024.

While not as strict as some other employers, the bank also stipulated that staff must work in-office on either Friday or Monday, putting an end to the prolonged work-from-home weekend that many had enjoyed. Senior managers must attend the office four times a week.

In a memo, CEO Christian Sewing and COO Rebecca Short wrote: “we realized that our decision would not be received positively by everyone, and we appreciate your feedback and frank words.” These words did little to quell staff anger, however.

“This is an unnecessary battlefront for Deutsche Bank that destroys reputation and trust,” said Stephan Szukalski, head of labour union DBV, which represents Deutsche Bank staff.

Dell Technologies

The technology firm previously requested staff to return to the office full-time amid concerns it would have an impact on productivity.

In January 2024, it amped up efforts, telling employees they would miss out on promotions and pay rises if they continued to work from home. Under its new policy, employees who live within an hour’s commute of a Dell office are required to work in-house for five days a week.

Commenting on its new policy, Dell explained: “We believe in-person connections paired with a flexible approach are critical to drive innovation and value differentiation.”

Dell is not alone in linking remote work with performance reviews. Google has begun to use in-person attendance as part of employee feedback meetings. Still, this strategy risks sending the wrong message to staff that being present is more important than performance.

IBM Consulting

IBM first ordered staff to return to the workplace in September 2023. Reaction was lukewarm at the time. Employer-employee relationships at the firm had already soured after CEO Arvind Krishna publicly declared that 30% of his workers could be replaced by AI.

In January the following year, the company doubled down on its RTO policy. Managers were told that they must be at the office, or meeting a client, for a minimum of three days a week. If not, they could leave the company.

Threatening staff with redundancy unless they come back into the office is certainly a bold move. It’s one of the most extreme messages we’ve seen so far in the return-to-office debate. But likely it won’t be the last.

Planning to implement a return to office policy at your business? Don’t be like these guys. Read about the Flexible Working Bill and your legal obligations as an employer.