Companies that have rejected the return to office

Everywhere you look, there are businesses demanding a return to office (RTO). After years of embracing flexible working, large UK companies including Boots and Asda are jumping to outdo each other by introducing stricter RTO mandates.

Research shows that employees are overwhelmingly in favour of flexible work. To many, the string of RTO adopters will be concerning. But, while big names such as Manchester United FC and Dell make headlines for their punishing policies, plenty are holding onto hybrid work.

Below, we list seven big tech businesses that have refused to introduce an RTO mandate so far. We’ll explain their motivations for doing so, and the impact it has had on the workforce.

1. Spotify

It’s apt that an app which lets you listen to music on-the-go would also let its employees work on-the-go too. Chief human resources officer at Spotify, Katarina Berg, has made clear that the business will not be saying goodbye to its work from anywhere policy anytime soon.

“You can’t spend a lot of time hiring grownups and then treat them like children,” Berg told Raconteur in October, adding: “Work is not a place you come to, it’s something you do.”

Like many tech firms, Spotify has had to make layoffs in the wake of falling revenue. Some 1,500 staff lost their jobs at the end of 2022. Pointedly, however, it didn’t blame remote work for the decision. Instead, Spotify leant on WFH as a way to streamline operations and save money.

Staff turnover has benefited. Attrition rates have reportedly dropped by 15%, at a time when talent shortages are stifling growth and causing pay to inflate at tech companies.

2. Airbnb

Airbnb’s leadership team and board have outright rejected RTO mandates, with CEO Brian Chesky decrying them as hypocritical.

“I guarantee you that many of these CEOs who are calling people back to the office in New York City are going away to the Hamptons for the summer or going to Europe in August,” Chesky said in an episode of the “Decoder” podcast last year.

With a core value to ‘be a good host’, Airbnb lets staff work at home, or, in one of 170 countries for up to 90 days a year (and no pay cut) CNBC reports that 800,000 people flocked to Airbnb’s careers page when this news was shared.

Chesky admits that fully remote work was more feasible during COVID. Still, he remains anti-office. “A giant sea of desks probably isn’t the most effective thing”, he told Decoder.

3. Revolut

As with many tech companies, Revolut switched to a fully flexible work model in February 2021, in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Unlike rival banks and fintechs such as Lloyds, however, it has remained steadfast in its commitment to the policy.

“Ten months of remote working has fully demonstrated that flexibility is good for employees and good for the company”, Revolut has said. According to an employee survey, 92% of employees said their productivity levels had not been compromised by the move online.

Impressively, Revolut has listened to the mood in the room. It has allowed staff to choose how many (if at all) days they want to work in-office — even after it committed to a much larger office building with a ten-year lease in the expensive hub of Canary Wharf.

That remote-first approach has enabled Revolut to hire a crack team of techs-perts, and the business announced plans to increase its headcount by 40% at the start of this year.

4. Microsoft

Given the business first started life in Bill Gates’ garage, we’re not surprised that Microsoft team leaders have allowed its staff to work from the sanctuary of their own homes. For now.

Microsoft has made it clear that it does not plan to introduce an RTO mandate so long as staff remain productive. According to a report by Fortune, the software company is keeping an eye on output. If it starts to drop, the brand could put an end to the remote work perk.

Nonetheless, this is likely a tactic to motivate employees rather than scare them. Higher-ups such as IT director Keith Boyd have written extensively about the positive impact that flexible working can have to improve employee engagement and retention.

“If you make the time to do it right, your employees will be more engaged, more productive, and more connected, even when they’re miles away,” Boyd wrote in a blog post.

5. Dropbox

Cloud storage firm Dropbox has been one of flexible working’s strongest allies since the war against remote work began. Back in April, CEO Drew Houston ranted against RTO threats, warning they were likely to foster a “really toxic relationship” between bosses and their staff.

In an interview with The Verge, Houston recalled shifting to a remote-first working model and discovering “it worked a lot better than we thought. People loved not commuting and the flexibility to live anywhere. [Now] we allow people to self-organise”.

It’s not been all smooth sailing for the business. In recent weeks, it’s had to cut its staffing by 20%, blaming the slowing of cloud storage uptake, and the need to pivot towards its AI developments.

For remaining staff, they’ll still be able to enjoy the WFH perk. Dropbox remains 90% remote, and Houston has vowed not to implement a RTO policy. That missing 10%, he told The Verge, is enough to ensure teams can still work together and ensure Dropbox colleagues don’t “lose the in-person part”.

6. Shopify

Shopping around for a new flexible working job? Why not head to a Shopify store? The ecommerce website builder has been vocal about its anti-office, anti-meeting organisational culture termed ‘digital by design’ which has seen it employ fully remote work since 2020.

Digital is the key word. In an interview, Andy Wood, lead technical producer at Shopify, says the firm has leaned on platforms such as Slack to replicate the intimacy of the office.

“[It] feels a lot more like the office days,” he said, “when you could just turn around in your chair and chat with someone.”

While some decry home working as “anti-ambitious”, Shopify has found the opposite to be true. Despite switching to a remote-first office, newly-published financial figures show the business achieved 26% revenue growth in Q3 2024.

7. Atom Bank

Back in 2021, Atom Bank, a challenger fintech, managed to dodge the hybrid versus remote debate by taking the secret third option; switching to a four-day working pattern.

Having spotted that return to office policies invite a culture of “rebelliousness” within the workforce, Atom boss Mark Mullen decided against an RTO as it would make managers “afraid to ask employees to come back” (a prediction which has proved right on the money).

Instead, the firm switched to a four-day week. Mullen says this has given the business more control over employee work hours while still offering better work-life balance than a 9-5.

“We planned the shift patterns, we planned the changes.. [That is] not what happened with flexible working,” Mullen said. Employees are clearly supportive. As a result of the policy, Mullen reported that turnover had lowered among Atom staff, while morale had also lifted.

Flexible work better for business

SMEs who have seen the slew of Big Tech RTO mandates announced this year may be surprised by how many successful firms are quietly continuing with flexible working. But many employers that backtracked on the policy may have done so out of a herd mentality.

Home working brings plenty of benefits. For example, remote firms are less likely to have made layoffs than office-based businesses. By fixating on companies that are clinging to the office, bosses risk missing out on these and other upsides of embracing remote work.

Are RTO mandates even legal? Read about the legal issues of a return to office