👋 Happy Tuesday! 85% of remote workers say clear communication from managers is essential, but only 51% say they actually receive it. The disconnect reveals one of hybrid work's biggest challenges: ensuring effective communication when teams aren't physically together. That's according to a Founder Reports survey of 1,000 U.S.-based remote and hybrid employees.
In this week’s edition:
⏰ TikTok’s 5 Day RTO Push
🗞️ Top Flexible Work News
🌎 The Role of Culture in WFH
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🎄Happy holidays! We’ll be off next week; see you in January! 🎄
Please forward to colleagues and friends!
THIS WEEK’S FLEX FOCUS 🔍
TikTok Planning 5 Day RTO Push in 2026
TikTok is telling US employees across advertising sales, marketing, and product divisions they’ll need to be in the office five days a week starting September 2026. The move follows a similar mandate already in place for TikTok Shop, which previously tracked the hours workers spent physically in the office.
The company joins Instagram, Amazon, and others pushing full office returns, but the plans could shift if TikTok sells its US business next year under the 2024 divestment law. For now, TikTok is betting that mandates trump flexibility—positioning office presence as alignment with company culture rather than a productivity strategy backed by data.
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 👇
Entrepreneur: Companies resisting flexible work risk losing talent as experts predict 20-25% of workers will work remotely multiple days weekly within five years.
Psychology Today: Employers can counteract remote work isolation by encouraging informal social interactions and acknowledging that digital communication can't fully replace in-person connections for preventing loneliness.
WorkLife: Some companies use RTO mandates hoping employees will quit, but Dayforce CPO Amy Capellanti-Wolf warns this strategy raises a critical question—are the right people leaving?
FLEXPERT INSIGHTS 🧠
Culture Explains Why Some Countries Embrace Remote Work and Others Don’t
Why do English-speaking countries average 1.3-1.9 work-from-home days per week, while some East Asian countries—despite world-class digital infrastructure—report less than one? A new Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) study by Pablo Zarate, Jose Maria Barrero, Nick Bloom, Steven J. Davis, Mathias Dolls, and Cevat Giray Aksoy reveals why: culture, not technology.
Analyzing 14,427 workers across 37 countries, the researchers found cultural individualism accounts for 29% of cross-country WFH variation—more than industry structure, population density, and economic development combined. Individualistic societies that value autonomy and self-reliance embrace remote work, while collectivist societies that prioritize hierarchy and face-to-face interaction remain less hospitable to WFH.
The future of work will be shaped not just by technology and policy, but by deeply rooted cultural forces.
COMPANY SPOTLIGHT ✨
Danfoss is a global provider of products and services used in areas such as cooling food, air conditioning, heating buildings, controlling electric motors, and powering mobile machinery. Founded in 1933 in Nordborg, Denmark, its vision is to meet the growing need for infrastructure, food supply, energy efficiency, and climate-friendly solutions worldwide. With offices spread across over 100 countries, including the U.S., China, and India, Danfoss employs approximately 28,000 people globally.