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Microsoft is following suit and rolling out a three-day-in-office policy, but says it’s not about reducing headcount.
Microsoft changed its remote work policy this week, announcing that employees are required to be in the office at least three days a week, beginning with a phased rollout from February 2026.
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Microsoft’s chief people officer, Amy Coleman, revealed the news to Microsoft employees in a memo on Wednesday September 10, 2025.
“We’ve looked at how our teams work best, and the data is clear: when people work together in person more often, they thrive,” Coleman wrote. “With that in mind, we’re updating our flexible work expectations to three days a week in the office,”
Microsoft will introduce its new return-to-office policy in three stages, beginning with employees based close to its Redmond, Washington headquarters in late February 2025. The rollout will then expand to other US sites before reaching international offices, but no official date has yet been confirmed.
“For some of you, this is not a change. For others this may be a bigger adjustment, which is exactly why we’re providing time to plan thoughtfully,” Coleman wrote.
Beyond three days
Certain roles – such as account management, consulting, and field marketing – will be exempt, as they require flexibility to engage directly with customers and partners, according to an internal FAQ cited by industry publication The Verge.
Some parts of Microsoft may go beyond the minimum three-day baseline – with flexibility given to individual business units to decide what works best for their teams.
“Each business will do what is best for their team, which means some groups will deviate from our company-wide expectations,” explained Coleman.
Unpopular decision
The new return-to-office mandate comes just a few months after Microsoft undertook a series of significant workforce reductions, which have impacted multiple divisions and locations.
Since May 2025, the company has laid off over 15,000 employees, beginning with an initial 6,000-job cut, followed by additional rounds affecting Xbox, LinkedIn, engineering, product management, and legal teams.
More like this
While Coleman was at pains to say that the new policy is “not about reducing headcount”, the announcement was met by the usual suspicion of a stealth layoff for employees that can’t make the adjustment, or don’t want to.
“Just another way of reducing their headcount,” one Reddit user wrote. “Translation: ‘AI headcount reduction’,” wrote another.
The industry mirrored
Microsoft’s shift in policy mirrors the hybrid approaches adopted by many other major tech companies.
Amazon: In September 2024, Amazon announced that the firm would implement a policy requiring employees to return to the office five days per week.
Meta: In January 2025, CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed Meta’s hybrid work policy, requiring employees to work from the office at least three days per week.
October 15-17, 2025
Big names joining the New York lineup! 🔥
Google: In April 2025, Google announced that some remote employees must return to the office three days per week or risk losing their jobs.
