A new US report makes it clear: five-day in-office mandates are outdated | Gleb Tsipursky

A government study shows clear benefits to the flexibility of telework. Companies ignore these findings at their own risk

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, organizations pivoted overnight to remote and hybrid models to survive. Nearly five years later, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Dell and Goldman Sachs have enforced five-day-in-office mandates, while US federal agencies imposed on-site requirements for more than 400,000 employees.

These actions rely on outdated assumptions about productivity, culture and resilience, according to authoritative federal government data. A May 2025 report from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), Telework: Private Sector Stakeholder and Expert Views, shows that telework offers clear advantages when leaders embrace strategic culture-building, robust performance tracking and available regulatory guidance. Companies ignoring these insights risk talent attrition, rising costs and reduced agility in an era that demands adaptability.

Gleb Tsipursky, PhD, is the CEO of the future-of-work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts