New research reveals a 10% drop in hybrid work over the last three years as major corporations abandon the “Great Compromise” in favor of stricter mandates.
CORONADO, CA, UNITED STATES, January 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Buildremote, the workplace research firm, today released its comprehensive 2026 Return-to-Office (RTO) dataset. The report, which tracks the workplace policies of the world’s largest companies from 2023 to 2026, reveals a significant erosion of the hybrid work model as organizations shift toward more polarized “Office First” and “Remote First” strategies.
According to the data, the share of Fortune 500 companies identifying as “Hybrid” has dropped from 92% in 2023 to 82% at the start of 2026.
While the headline “Return to Office” often focuses on five-day mandates, the data shows a more nuanced migration. During this same period, Office First policies more than doubled, jumping from 6% to 13%, while Remote First models saw a smaller but notable increase from 2% to 5%.
“The data shows that companies are slowly realizing that to make work work, they have to actually pick a side,” says Henry O’Loughlin, Founder of Buildremote. “Hybrid is the hardest of all three policies to run and it often comes with the least benefit.”
The 2026 report also highlights a shift in specific visit expectations. While the three-day-per-week mandate peaked in popularity during 2025 at 41%, that number has regressed to 39% in 2026. Five-day-per-week mandates jumped from 10% to 17% of all policies in just one year.
Buildremote’s full dataset, which benchmarks every large U.S. company for RTO policies, is available for download. It serves as a critical resource for HR leaders and executives navigating the increasingly divided landscape of corporate workplace strategy.
Henry O’Loughlin
Buildremote
info@buildremote.co
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