Mandates vs Reality: WFH Went Up in 2025

Plus, what you can't measure is costing you your best talent

👋 Happy Tuesday! For years, CEOs have been adamant: return to the office. But the data tells a different story. In 2025, more employees worked from home than in 2024—34.9% of full-time workers did at least some remote work, up from 33.4%. And that share remains 10+ percentage points higher than pre-pandemic levels. The workforce moved on. Companies are still trying to drag it back. This week, we're breaking down why RTO mandates are failing.

In this week’s edition:

🚫 Why Mandates Aren't Moving the Needle
🗞️ Top Flexible Work News
💙 The Invisible Work Reshaping Your Workforce

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THIS WEEK’S FLEX FOCUS 🔍

More People Worked From Home in 2025 Despite RTO Mandates

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that more US employees worked from home in 2025 than in 2024, surprising many who only read the headlines about return-to-office demands.

Last year, 34.9% of American workers spent at least part of their time working at home, versus 33.4% in 2024. Remote work remains most prevalent at higher education levels: 51.4% of workers with a Bachelor’s degree said they worked from home at least some of the day, compared to 19% of high school graduates.

Work from home is also more prevalent among women, 38.3% of whom work at least part of the week from home versus 31.3% of men. At the same time, labor force participation among women with young children continues to falter, down 2% since the start of 2024.

The BLS data adds to growing evidence that the pandemic-era paradigm shift is here to stay. June data from the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (SWAA) found that work from home is little changed over the past three years, and up 3.7X over 2019.

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FLEX WORK QUICK HITS 💥

Stay ahead of the curve with our curated roundup of the trending flexible work stories making waves right now. Here's what you need to know 👇

• Fast Company: Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase allowed remote work during World Cup games in host cities to ease commute disruptions from expected visitors.

• HR News: HR leaders are shifting hybrid work from a policy to a culture, emphasizing that sustainable performance requires clear expectations, trust, and leadership—not just flexibility.

• Fortune: 71% of Gen Z prefer hybrid work, the highest of any generation, showing younger workers actually value in-person connection and mentorship over full-remote arrangements.

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FLEXPERT INSIGHTS 🧠

What Caregiving Reveals about the Future of Work

Between 10% and 20% of workers across every industry are now managing caregiving. Unlike childcare, elder care arrives without warning. One day an employee is handling their normal workload. The next, a parent has fallen or been diagnosed with something. The consequences ripple far beyond the individual.

What makes caregiving so revealing is this: it exposes how organizations measure what matters. Many still rely on visibility—who’s in the office, who’s responsive, who appears busiest. But a person coordinating care while maintaining performance may be delivering more value than someone visible for 10 hours a day. The future of work demands leaders rethink what commitment actually looks like.

Caregivers are developing exactly the skills modern organizations need. Navigating ambiguity. Influencing without authority. Problem-solving under pressure. Adapting when circumstances change. These aren’t perks to accommodate. They’re capabilities to recognize and build on.