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Middle managers face the challenge of upholding return to office (RTO) mandates as their teams resist losing remote working freedoms.
Tech giants are making headlines for declaring the end of remote work, and employees are far from impressed.
The latest return to office (RTO) wave has sparked a clash between executives’ and employees’ expectations. In the middle of this storm, managers are being tasked with enforcing unpopular RTO mandates.
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How did we get here?
Amazon was the first to call an end to remote working when CEO Andy Jassy issued a memo to employees in September 2024.
“To address the issue of being better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other and our culture to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business, we’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID,” Jassy wrote.
In April 2025, Google announced that some remote employees must return to the office three days per week or risk losing their jobs. More recently, Google also revised its “Work from Anywhere” (WFA) policy, in a further sign of tightening remote working policies.
Then, Microsoft’s Chief People Officer Amy Coleman published a memo on 10 September 2025, stating that staff will be required to return to office work at least three days a week, beginning with a phased rollout from February 2026.
“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.
“It is unsurprising that many [CEOS] are considering a more permanent return to the office,” said Matt Weston, senior managing director at the recruiter Robert Half. “Time and again, in-person collaboration lets tech teams solve problems faster. Without even the obviousness of home environment distractions and internet lag, face-to-face builds trust. Interpersonal interactions are worth way more than a dozen Teams messages,” he added.
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How engineers are reacting to the shift
When Jassy led the push for tech companies to return to the office, Amazon employees reportedly began “rage applying” for other jobs, and a petition protesting the decision gathered 30,000 signatures.
One Reddit user voiced a common criticism of the move: “Vision: RTO 5 days of the week will improve collaboration! Reality: PM still spends all day in Zoom – but in office – because team members are in different geos/timezones.”
According to Lorien Global’s 2025 survey, only 29% of tech professionals work on-site full-time, while 43% are fully remote and 27% split their time between home and office. Furthermore, a McKinsey report found that 87% of people offered flexible work take it, and a Statista report indicates 91% globally prefer either fully or almost remote work.
Massimo Belloni, head of machine learning and data science at Docplanner, noted that remote and hybrid arrangements can be highly effective, providing employees with more flexibility in where they live, while still allowing high-quality work from home.
“Why employees at every level value flexibility is now well understood: autonomy, better work-life balance, and the ability to focus deeply without the distractions of the office,” Belloni said.
Where does this leave managers?
Caught in the middle of all this are the engineering managers tasked with enforcing the policies. Increasingly, it’s these leaders who are having to face the backlash from unhappy teams.
Based on his conversations with other managers, Michael Tempest, a senior engineering manager at Pleo, says RTO succeeds when managers take an honest, factual approach and focus on what they can control. “Where I have seen this not work so well is through a non-empathetic approach, where the manager just follows the rules and punishes those around them,” he added.
Rigid enforcement can backfire. Managers who insist on strict in-office presence may unintentionally exclude team members from key opportunities, limit flexibility for personal needs, or reward attendance over actual performance.
Tim Cheadle, VP of agentic AI at Phaidra, explains that although managers need to reflect the organization’s stance, building trust through transparency and open dialogue is usually the best path forward. “People with difficulty moving, long commutes, or childcare needs are often able to find workarounds such as hybrid presence, regular travel, or working different hours.”
Advocating on their behalf pays dividends when thinking about retention. While recent RTO mandates could trigger attrition, when handled well, good leaders can retain talent, and create a sense of stability.
Alexia Pedersen, SVP International at O’Reilly, emphasized that effective managers recognize both the advantages and challenges of returning to the office, champion flexibility when they can, and implement policies with empathy.
“Managers sit at the intersection of executive directives and employee needs. Successfully navigating RTO mandates requires balancing organizational goals with flexibility and understanding the value of employee autonomy.”
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