RTO, Remote, Hybrid: Have U.S. Work Models Stabilized?

The headlines jump out at you. News sites and corporate press releases show notable organizations (e.g., Amazon, Dell, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley) mandating that their workers (particularly those in exempt roles) come back to the office five days a week. But how much of this is noise versus actual trend? Is the workplace truly shifting?

New data from research and consulting firm Gallup shows the percentage of remote-capable U.S. employees working in a hybrid work model — a mix of in-office and remote work — has decreased from 55% to 51% over the past two quarters. During that same period, though, fully on-site work and fully remote work each increased by 2%, according to the same research.

So, has the workplace reached homeostasis?

What the Research Shows

Experts generally agree that since organizations began rolling back their pandemic-era policies in 2022, work location trends and remote work statistics have … remained fairly stable — which they see as evidence that hybrid work has taken hold.

The trend is understandably popular among workers. Various industry reports (including those by Robert Half and Slack) state approximately 80% of surveyed workers express a preference for remote or hybrid work options if available for their roles. 

“Gallup’s latest data — alongside hybrid work trends tracked by Stanford’s Nick Bloom and Kastle System’s occupancy tracking data — confirm that hybrid work is here to stay for the majority of organizations, even in the face of the federal government and some prominent organizations making headlines for calling their entire workforce back to the office full-time,” said Ben Wigert, the head of consulting at HR technology company Energage and formerly Gallup’s director of workplace research and strategy.

Indeed, according to the Gallup data, 51% of remote-capable workers have a hybrid work arrangement and 28% are fully remote — two trends that have remained remarkably steady since mid-2022 when a record-high 49% were hybrid and 29% were fully remote.

“Given the durability of hybrid work models across the workforce, the question most organizations should be focused on is how they can make their hybrid model work best for them,” Wigert said.

The remainder of this article will explore how your organization might do that.

Getting to ‘Fair and Helpful’

When it comes to updating their work models for a post-pandemic business world, Wigert said most organizations seem content to just leave well enough alone.

“I think many organizations and people believe that just because their team has been working hybrid for the past three years, they’re doing it well,” he said. “That’s simply not true.”

Most managers have not been trained to lead hybrid teams, Wigert said, adding that half of hybrid teams have never discussed a plan for collaborating in a hybrid environment, and only 57% of hybrid workers believe their manager trusts them to work remotely.

“Gallup’s data very clearly continues to show that hybrid work is most effective when the team routinely comes together to align on expectations for availability, coordination, activities that should be done in-person and check-ins,” he said.

Teams that align on how to tackle hybrid collaboration are significantly more engaged and compliant with hybrid policies, “and more likely to believe their hybrid policy is fair and helpful,” Wigert said.

Lessons from ‘The New Workplace’

To better understand how organizations are navigating workplace models, Ina Purvanova and Alanah Mitchell, professors at the Zimpleman College of Business at Drake University, spent months following three organizations as they each crafted a post-pandemic work strategy based on three options: remote-first, office-forward and hybrid.

The professors’ research on these companies — two national and one global — forms the backbone of The New Workplace: Employee Alignment in Remote-First, Office-Forward, and Hybrid Work Organizations, a 246-page book released in July 2025.

In addition to the insights gleaned by these educators, the book includes an “Awareness Raising Primer” to highlight what people assume about different workplace preferences versus what the research reveals about them.

“[Examining all this] can be tremendously helpful to total rewards [TR] professionals in terms of understanding how different work modalities themselves can be utilized as a ‘reward’ or as a way to increase employee engagement,” said Mitchell. “For example, identifying that an employee has an in-office work preference allows [TR] professionals [and other organizational leaders] to create a work experience customized to that employee, thus increasing the employee’s motivation and work satisfaction.”

Viewed from a more macro-perspective, Puranova said it’s important for TR experts to be part of the strategic conversation about the organization’s workplace direction — what it’s doing, where it’s going and why.

According to Mitchell, the “why” behind the strategy should be clearly articulated, and the tactics that support the strategy should actually make it better, “so employees can see it as a reward, as a reason to stay with or join the company.”

Next Steps

As employers look ahead to future hiring plans, Robert Half’s recent research on job seekers found that a quarter of professionals are already looking or planning to look for a new role in the second half of 2025, but only 19% said their top choice is an in-office setup, while 50% prefer a hybrid option and 25% opt for fully remote.

Organizations are likely becoming more aware that offering work flexibility is not “one-size-fits-all,” said Katie Merritt, a senior research and data manager at Robert Half.

So, when it comes to creating a sensible hybrid work model that will attract and retain talent, she said “clarity is key.”

“Successful organizations define flexible work specifically, whether that’s three days in the office each week or individually tailored arrangements,” Merritt said. “If you have ambiguity during the recruiting process, you’re just wasting time.”

But above all, she recommended that employers and their TR pros take a micro-approach to a macro-issue by doing their own research and internalizing emerging industry trends.

“If a third of your competitors are offering something that you’re not,” Merritt said, “that’s a risk for your organization.”

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Organizational Performance
• Total Rewards
• Workforce Engagement