• Grace Chang occasionally commutes from Washington, DC, to NYC for work.
• She said the four-hour commute is worth it because the job is a good fit for her.
• Remote working arrangements have made it easier for some Americans to become supercommuters.

Grace Chang says the occasional four-hour commute to her job is worth it but could be unsustainable in the long term.

Earlier this year, Chang, 28, felt burned out from her finance job at a hospitality company in Washington, DC. She began exploring new opportunities but struggled to find a role in DC that would allow her to grow and be less demanding.

After expanding her search outside the Beltway, Chang accepted a financial planning and analysis position, which she started in May. The role pays $120,000 annually, but it came with a downside: a commute roughly every other week from DC to New York City. Chang asked that the name of her employer be excluded for privacy reasons.

For her journey, Chang said she wakes up around 4 a.m. on Monday, catches the 5:05 a.m. Amtrak train at Union Station, arrives in New York City around 8:30 a.m., and is at her midtown Manhattan office 30 minutes later. She usually stays in New York until Wednesday or Thursday, and since her company doesn't pay for lodging, she crashes with friends or family who live in or near the city.

"I'm not 100% sure if the job is worth the commute, but it pays the bills and is a good stepping stone for other opportunities in the future," she said.

Chang is among the supercommuters who have embraced long treks to work in recent years: A Stanford University study published in June defined a supercommuter as anyone with a journey of more than 75 miles. The study, which was conducted by Stanford economists Nick Bloom and Alex Finan, found that the share of supercommutes in the 10 largest US cities was 32% higher between November 2023 and February than between the same time period four years earlier.

The economists said this uptick was likely tied to increased remote working arrangements. For example, some Americans who moved away from cities during the pandemic — in part for lower housing costs — decided they could tolerate their commute when their employers called them back to the office.

Supercommuting isn't the long-term goal

Chang said her employer doesn't have a specific in-office policy, but her manager wants her to work in person sometimes, particularly during busier periods.

When Chang landed the job, she never seriously considered moving to New York City. She and her husband have lived in the DC area for over a decade, and her husband works locally.

"We have friends and community here and didn't want to uproot so quickly," she said. "After I started making the commute, I just got used to it."

Staying with friends and family has helped Chang save money on accommodations while she's in New York, but her commute still comes with a financial cost. If she buys well in advance of her trip, she said she can generally get a one-way train ticket for less than $100. She said Amtrak offers a 10-ride ticket pass for $790, which amounts to $79 per one-way ticket.

However, Chang said her role would likely have a lower salary if it were based in DC, in part because the city has a lower cost of living than NYC.

In recent weeks, Chang's manager said she could reduce her commute to once a month. She said she'd previously requested a less frequent commute once she was fully trained for her job: She's been in the role for over six months.

While Chang is open to jobs closer to home, she said she's enjoying her current role and is getting the career development she wanted.

"It's definitely not a long-term goal or aspiration to continue to do this, but what has made this doable is having a positive mentality toward commuting," she said. "If I dreaded it every week, I would have quit in the first month."

Do you have a long commute to work? Are you willing to share your story with a reporter? Reach out to [email protected].

• Staff at major companies have asked their leaders if there are plans to follow Amazon's full return to office.
• Firms like Meta, Google, and Microsoft have a hybrid setup — however, execs say they're eyeing productivity.
• Research findings on the subject are varied, and the debate will likely continue in 2025.

Executives at major companies are referencing a specific term to hedge when asked by employees if they plan to follow in Amazon's footsteps and implement a return to 5 days a week in the office.

That word? Productivity.

While Amazon has been the most high-profile example this year of a full return to office policy, set to go into effect in January, telecom giant AT&T has also elected to double down on in-person work with a similar 5-day policy, Business Insider first reported.

In the wake of Amazon's announcement, executives at both Google and Microsoft, which require employees to be in the office at least 3 days a week, have fielded questions from staff wondering if the days of hybrid work are numbered.

Microsoft's executive vice president of cloud and AI, Scott Guthrie, said the company wouldn't change the hybrid work policy unless it noticed a drop in productivity, BI reported in September.

In October, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company had no plans to order employees back to the office, so long as employees remain productive during their at-home work days, BI previously reported.

Over at Meta, Mark Zuckerberg said last year that "early analysis of performance data," indicated productivity increases for early-career engineers in the office at least 3 days a week. A few months later, the company announced it was requiring employees to return to the office 3 days a week.

Executives at Dell called the company's sales team back to the office 5 days a week starting at the end of September, writing in a memo, "Our data shows that sales teams are more productive when onsite."

Though Amazon did not explicitly name productivity as a reason for its full return to the office, CEO Andy Jassy emphasized a similar term: effectiveness.

Being back in person 5 days a week makes it "easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and, teams tend to be better connected to one another," he wrote at the time.

For those committing to a full return to office, preparing campuses for the influx of employees in the new year is its own challenge. Amazon has since delayed the announced January 2 effective date of the new mandate for some employees because it doesn't have enough office space in some locations, BI reported earlier this month.

As CEOs and company leaders keep an eye on how employees in remote or hybrid setups perform, various studies since the onset of the pandemic have attempted to measure and compare the productivity of employees who work at home and in-office. Research studies have produced conflicting results, further complicated by the matter of how best to define or measure productivity.

Goldman Sachs, which has a 5-day-in-office policy, reviewed several analyses that used different ways of evaluating changes in work-from-home productivity, from call-center workers who were randomly chosen to work from home to comparing the productivity of randomly assigned remote workers with their in-office peers.

In short, it's hard to say for sure, and executives are deciding what their long-term setup will be after a year in which some of the world's biggest companies put a renewed focus on being "lean" and "efficient."

Meanwhile, some employees have returned to commuting in (sometimes "coffee-badging" in and returning home), others have relocated to comply with a policy change, and some have resigned to pursue a hybrid or fully remote opportunity. As companies tighten their belts and conduct layoffs, other workers have taken to workplace forums to wonder if some of the RTO mandates have been a possible "quiet layoffs" tactic.

As more major global companies revisit their policies and make changes, CEOs are likely to face more questions on the topic going into the new year.

For some, the answer is simple: Stay productive and we'll stay flexible.

• Many major companies are requiring employees to return to the office full or part-time.
• Business Insider compiled a running list of the companies calling employees back.
• The list includes companies like Starbucks, Amazon, and BlackRock.

In September, Amazon mandated corporate workers return to the office five days a week beginning January 2.

In December, Business Insider first reported that AT&T is following suit and expecting employees to be in the office 40 hours a week starting in the new year.

The two business giants are just one of the many companies calling their employees back to the office following the pandemic as COVID-19 restrictions have eased.

The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, told employees this week they would be required to return to the office five days a week, according to a memo obtained by Business Insider.

Other major employers, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, have also abandoned the hybrid attendance policy they adopted during the pandemic and instead implemented full return-to-office mandates.

Several executives and leaders have said they believe productivity increases when workers are in the office together, while others hope to increase in-person collaboration. Even some CEOs who previously praised the flexibility of remote work have started backpedaling, pressuring workers to comply with RTO mandates with threats to track attendance or even fire employees who don't comply.

Here's a list, in alphabetical order, of major companies requiring employees to return to offices. Business Insider will update this list regularly.

Amazon

CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a September 16 memo that Amazon would be pulling the plug on remote work starting next year.

"We've decided that we're going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID," Jassy said. "When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant."

The CEO cited easier employee collaboration and connection and said in-person work would strengthen the company's culture, echoing his February 2023 memo, which mandated employees spend at least three days a week in the office.

Not everyone agrees. Some Amazon employees have taken to an internal Slack channel to criticize the new RTO policy, Business Insider's Ashley Stewart first reported, with one staffer writing that it is "significantly more strict and out of its mind" than pre-Covid operations.

"This is not 'going back' to how it was before," they wrote. "It's just going backwards."

The critical reaction is reminiscent of employees' response to last year's surprise return-to-office rule. Thousands of Amazon workers joined a Slack channel to share their thoughts, with some even organizing to file a petition against the change.

Apple

In August 2022, Apple's senior leaders told workers they had to return to the office at least three days a week after previously requiring two days a week. CEO Tim Cook said the decision was meant to restore "in-person collaboration." Some employees fought back and issued a petition shortly after the announcement, arguing that staffers can do "exceptional work" from home.

Despite the pushback, Apple's hybrid work program launched the following month and is still in place.

AT&T

AT&T confirmed to Business Insider that it's requiring all office employees to work on-site five days a week starting in January.

The change follows about a year of AT&T accommodating a hybrid schedule in its widely publicized office push.

"The majority of our employees and leaders never stopped working on location for the full work week — including during the pandemic," a spokesperson for the telecom giant told BI.

AT&T told BI it's updating its facilities amid the policy change.

"As we continue to evolve our model, we are enhancing our facilities and workspaces, adapting our benefits programs, and incorporating best practices to ensure our employees are best equipped to serve our customers," the spokesperson added.

BlackRock

Last year, BlackRock mandated employees return to the office four days a week. The investment firm, which is headquartered in New York City, intended to bring employees into its then newly leased office space — which spans 1 million square feet across 15 floors, according to Hudson Yards.

In a May 2023 memo sent by the company's COO, Rob Goldstein, and the head of human resources, Caroline Heller, the execs wrote: "Career development happens in teaching moments between team members, and it is accelerated during market-moving moments, when we step up and get into the mix. All of this requires us to be together in the office."

Additionally, the memo notified staffers that the firm is giving them the opportunity to work remotely for two weeks during a time period that is relevant in their country, in an effort to offer "seasonal flexibility."

Chipotle

The fast-food chain announced last summer that corporate workers work in the office four days a week, Bloomberg reported. Chipotle had previously required workers to show up three days a week, according to the report.

Citigroup

Citigroup asked its 600 US workers, who were previously eligible to work remotely, to return to the office full-time, Bloomberg reported. In a memo released by the investment firm in May, the majority of staff are reportedly still able to work a hybrid schedule, with up to two days a week outside the office.

HSBC Holding Plc and Barclays Plc also followed suit, mandating workers to come into the office five days a week, according to the report.

Vaccinated Citigroup employees across the US were asked to return to the office for at least two days a week in March 2022, an internal memo obtained by Reuters said.

Dell

Dell told its sales staff to return to the office five days a week starting on September 30. Previously, the company let US employees pick between working remotely or following a hybrid schedule with about three days a week in the office.

September's sales-team mandate came with just a few days' notice, sending employees with kids into a hurry to find childcare, Business Insider reported.

Disney

In a January 2023 memo obtained by Business Insider, CEO Bob Iger told workers that starting that March, any Disney staff member working "in a hybrid fashion" would need to return to Disney's offices four days a week.

In response, over 2,300 employees signed a petition asking Iger to reconsider the mandate.

"This policy will slow, or even reverse, our post-COVID recovery and growth by creating critical resource shortages and causing irreplaceable institutional knowledge loss," signees wrote, according to The Washington Post.

Goldman Sachs

In March 2022, CEO David Solomon told Fortune that the company was asking employees to return to the office five days a week. Seven months later, he told CNBC that about 65% of staffers were working in the office.

However, some staff have failed to follow the policy a year into its implementation, causing senior managers to become frustrated and Goldman Sachs to further crack down on employees to return to the office full-time.

Google

In March 2022, Google employees in the San Francisco Bay Area and "several other US locations" were told to return to the office for at least three days a week starting the following month.

Last year, however, the company tightened RTO expectations, telling staff in an email that office attendance would factor into their performance reviews.

Google's Chief People Officer Fiona Cicconi told workers in the memo that requests to work remotely full time will now be considered "by exception only."

Some employees expressed feeling "frustrated" with the new policy. One staffer previously told Business Insider, "We don't like being micromanaged like school kids."

IBM

IBM has made its feelings on in-person work strictly clear — telling managers to either come into offices or get out.

The company asked all its US managers to report to an office or client location at least three days a week, according to a January memo viewed by Bloomberg.

A source told the outlet that staff would have to live within 50 miles of an IBM office or client location. The memo reportedly told employees they had until August to complete their relocation arrangements, and those who were unable to comply with the new policy must "separate from IBM."

CEO Arvind Krishna previously told the news outlet that employees' careers could suffer if they work from home. He said that although he wasn't forcing his own staffers back to the office, he thought remote workers may struggle to get promotions.

JPMorgan

In April 2023, JPMorgan announced to employees in a memo that all managing directors must work in the office five days a week. The memo also reminded other workers of the current policy of working in-person a minimum of three days a week.

Despite some pushback from employees, CEO Jamie Dimon doubled down on the policy, saying disgruntled workers can choose to go elsewhere.

"I completely understand why someone doesn't want to commute an hour and a half every day, totally got it," he told The Economist. "Doesn't mean they have to have a job here either."

The company has also been collecting data on staff activity, including tracking attendance.

Meta

Meta updated its remote work policies in September 2023, requiring employees to head into the office three days a week.

It had also stopped offering remote work in new job listings. People familiar with the company previously told BI that hiring managers could no longer post new jobs that list the work location as "remote" or outside of an existing office.

The company doubled down on its RTO efforts in June of this year, telling workers that their attendance would be tracked daily and failure to comply could lead to termination.

However, some employees returning to the office said they were met with a lack of space and privacy, with one worker calling the mandate "a mess."

Redfin

In April last year, real estate company Redfin announced an updated return-to-office policy via a memo from CEO Glenn Kelman.

The memo noted that starting July 2023, Redfin would require "headquarters employees" who live within 20 miles of the company's Seattle, San Francisco, and Frisco offices to work from the office for a full day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Those who live beyond the 20-mile radius are required to visit the office in-person once a quarter for a day or more of meetings, the company said.

In order to hold employees accountable, the memo included a "no-exceptions" section, reading that "to determine your distance from an office, we'll use Google Maps, with the distance from your home address measured in miles driven over roads by car."

Salesforce

Salesforce told employees in an internal memo seen by The San Francisco Standard that the majority of workers have to be in an office four to five days a week as of October 1.

The new policy is mandated for select staff in sales, workplace services, data center engineering, and on-site support technicians, according to the memo.

Early last year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff revised the company's annual strategic plan, including return-to-office mandates, according to a draft shared in an internal Slack message viewed by Business Insider.

The updated draft return-to-office policy required nonremote employees to work three days a week in the office and employees in "non-remote" and "customer-facing" roles to work four days a week. Engineers must work from the office 10 days per quarter, down from 20 in the initial draft, which was updated based on employee feedback.

Snap

Snap implemented a new mandate in September 2023, requiring employees to work in an office at least four days a week. The change represented a shift from the company's former "remote first" policy, which allowed employees to work from home or elsewhere.

Employees previously told BI that some managers told them the company is able to track workers' WiFi connections to see who is complying.

Starbucks

In a January 2023 memo to corporate staffers, then-CEO Howard Schultz said employees within commuting distance would be required to return to the office at least three days a week.

Schultz said some staff had failed to "meet their minimum promise of one day a week" and also pointed out that Starbucks baristas didn't have the "privilege" of working from home. The executive had previously said he "pleaded" with workers to come back to the office.

Starbucks employees responded by signing an open letter protesting the company's return-to-office mandate.

In September, former Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol took over as CEO of the coffee chain.

In October, the company threatened to fire staff if they did not comply with the RTO policy, Bloomberg first reported, citing an internal memo.

Beginning in January, the company plans to initiate a "standardized process" to hold workers accountable to the hybrid schedule at the team level, where consequences will cover "up to, and including, separation," according to the email obtained by Bloomberg.

Employees, however, may request exemptions due to physical or mental medical reasons.

Tesla

In June 2022, Tesla employees were notified of a mandatory return-to-office policy.

The email from Elon Musk included wording such as "If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned," and noted that everyone at Tesla must work from the office at least 40 hours a week.

Musk, who has called remote work "morally wrong," nodded to his frequent presence at Tesla factories as the reason for the business' success. "If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt," he wrote in the email.

Ubisoft

In September, Ubisoft, the France-based maker of the popular "Assassin's Creed" and "Far Cry" video game series, ordered its staff worldwide to return to the office three days a week.

French workers at the video game maker went on strike on October 15 over the RTO mandate.

X

After buying X, formerly Twitter, in 2022, Musk told employees that not showing up to an office when they're able to was the same as a resignation.

Musk also told staffers in an email that remote work was no longer allowed and that employees were expected to be in the office for at least 40 hours a week unless given explicit approval to work elsewhere.

In 2023, X, then Twitter, National Labor Relations Board filed a formal complaint saying that X had illegally fired an employee who complained about Musk's RTO policy.

The complaint said that Yao Yue, a principal software engineer, criticized the mandate, tweeting, "don't resign, let him fire you." She also posted, "don't be fired. Seriously" in a company Slack channel.

Yue was then fired five days later and told it was due to violating an unspecified company policy.

Uber

In a memo obtained by Business Insider, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees that beginning in April 2022, Uber staffers in 35 of the company's locations were required to return to the office at least half the time. He added that on other days, staffers were allowed to work remotely and that some could be entirely remote if they got clearance from their managers.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently said remote work took away some of Uber's "most frequent customers," adding that "there is an audience who kind of stopped using us as frequently as they used to."

Walmart

Along with slashing hundreds of jobs, Walmart also asked previously remote employees in the US to move to offices.

Staffers located in smaller offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto are additionally being directed to the company's central hubs, including its headquarters in Arkansas or New Jersey, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The retail giant will still permit hybrid schedules as long as workers come in-person most of the time, according to the outlet.

The Washington Post

William Lewis, CEO and publisher of The Washington Post, told staffers in early November that they would be required to return to the office five days a week, according to a memo obtained by BI.

"I want that great office energy for us every day," Lewis wrote, referring to the energy in the office during election week. "I am reliably informed that is how it used to be here before Covid, and it's important we get this back."

All employees were expected to return to the office by June 2, 2025, while managers were expected to return by February 3, 2025.

After starting remote work in 2020, the Post previously required employees to return to the office three days a week in early 2022.

The announcement at the Post came shortly after Amazon's return-to-office mandate. The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and executive chairman.

Zoom

Zoom, the darling of remote work, said in 2022 that less than 2% of staffers work in person full time. However, last year, the video-calling company asked employees to return to the office.

Workers living within 50 miles of one of its offices were mandated to work there at least two days a week.

"We believe that a structured hybrid approach – meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams – is most effective for Zoom," a spokesperson previously said in a statement. "As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers."

• Buy-now-pay-later provider Affirm says it's committed to being a remote-first company.
• However, one challenge of remote work is finding ways to get company culture to thrive.
• COO Michael Linford told BI about one approach he's using to get teams to work more effectively.

Back during the COVID-19 pandemic, buy-now-pay-later provider Affirm decided to commit fully to being a remote-first company.

"We debate it all the time," chief operating officer Michael Linford told Business Insider. The company had "not looked back," he said, and it "would be very difficult for us to go back on that."

"We think it benefits us and our employees," he said. "We recruit from deeper pools of talent. We get more productivity from our team."

However, Linford said one persistent challenge is finding ways to get company culture to not only survive but thrive.

In particular, the COO pointed to the importance of building what Affirm founder and CEO Max Levchin dubbed a "high-performance culture," which in true fintech fashion has been rendered into a key metric that is tracked each quarter.

In a recent blog post, Levchin defined the term as "a culture of individuals doing productive work for the company in the most efficient way possible and helping others do the same, while generally having a good time."

The puzzle, Levchin said, is how do companies actually accomplish this — and what should they avoid doing.

A high-performance culture is never final, Linford told BI. "That is a function of sustained focus," he said.

Right now, one approach Linford said he's focused on is less about maximizing day-to-day work experiences and more about creating additional opportunities to connect in person, especially in cities like Austin, Texas, where he and about 40 other employees live.

"We just take a couple of days a quarter and get a WeWork, and folks can come together," he said. "The point isn't that these folks are working together. They're not. They literally have no work overlap."

"The point wasn't that. It was to be Affirmers together in a room," he added. "That's where culture gets reinforced."

Bringing together people from across the company — like an Android engineer, a recruiter, an HR team member, and the COO — underscores a value expressed by Levchin that Affirm is made up of individuals working together.

At the same time, such cross-functional coworking likely helps the company avoid the pitfall of an "us vs them" dynamic that Levchin says is prohibited at Affirm.

"Max felt compelled, I think, to write that because we do want to not let culture just get created," Linford said. "We want to make sure we're influencing what it is the team is feeling, thinking, et cetera, and leave our mark on it."

Like Affirm, Spotify is another major company that has committed to not calling staff back to the office. While Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Google have all ordered staff back to the office for either a hybrid or fully in-person setup, Spotify has said it will continue to have physical offices and a "core week" where teams are encouraged to meet up in person.

The music-streaming platform said the flexible policy led to a decrease in attrition rates, increased workplace diversity, and hiring times that were six days faster.

However, Spotify's chief human resources officer, Katarina Berg, said in an October interview that it is "harder" to collaborate virtually.

"But does that mean that we will start forcing people to come into the office as soon as there is a trend for it? No," Berg said.

Once upon a time, corporate bosses, associates, and interns alike would set aside their different titles and gather each December for drinks, dancing, and conversation. There would be gourmet dinners, chocolate fountains, DJs, and even live bands. For some, it was a night of merriment and splendor; for others, of awkward small talk, followed by deep regret.

Then the holiday party became endangered. In the wake of #MeToo in 2017, more professionals began rethinking the wisdom of a boozed-up night with their colleagues. The pandemic and remote work delivered a near death blow. In a 2020 survey of about 200 HR representatives by the executive-outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a mere 23% said they opted for seasonal celebrations, nearly three-quarters of which would be held virtually.

But as the return to offices continues, companies are slowly reinstituting holiday parties. Last year, nearly 65% of companies surveyed by Challenger, Gray, & Christmas said they planned to host in-person holiday parties, within sight of the 80% reported in 2016, before the advent of #MeToo. If plans pan out, this year could have before-times levels of corporate holiday cheer.

The return of the office holiday party could be a happier development than many jaded workers are likely inclined to presume. With two-thirds of the American white-collar workforce working remotely either some or all of the time, according to a USA Today survey conducted earlier this year, face time with colleagues and superiors is no longer a default feature of the 9-to-5. That might not be a big deal for everyone, but early-career workers stand to pay the steepest professional price for missing out on the kinds of networking and mentorship opportunities that are likelier to happen organically in a shared physical space. All the while, workers across the board are feeling increasingly lonely, overextended, and disengaged. They need something — anything — to celebrate.

In a work environment punctuated by uncertainty and isolation, it might be premature to let one's inner Scrooge have the final word on the tradition.

From Fezziwig's ball in "A Christmas Carol" to the power-suited backdrop of the 1988 Christmas Eve action thriller "Die Hard," the workplace holiday party has been a fixture of the cultural imagination for generations. But in the mid-20th century, the event garnered its enduring reputation for sloppiness and day-after regret. A 1948 Life magazine photo spread from a Christmas party thrown in the office of a Manhattan insurance brokerage depicts, among other modern-day HR violations, a pantless male executive dancing arm in arm with a young female stenographer and a pair of colleagues leaning in for a smooch beneath a bundle of mistletoe.

Somewhere along the way, festivities evolved from low-key gatherings held at the office to lavish affairs that might include gourmet meals, hired entertainment, and even international travel and accommodation on the boss' dime. The pandemic notwithstanding, the economic pendulum has largely dictated its tilt toward excess or restraint.

As a Toronto-area DJ during the halcyon days of the late-'90s dot-com bubble, Baruch Labunski had a front-row seat to corporate-party splendor. "I went to many and saw a lot of crazy things," he said. He described being flown to DJ holiday parties in far-flung global destinations such as Bora Bora, Palawan, and Ibiza — and, on top of that, getting paid $50,000 to $100,000 per event. (When I asked how many holiday parties he booked in a typical season, he said only "many.") By the time the dot-com bubble burst and the demand for his services cooled, Labunski had tired himself out of the DJ booth and pivoted to a career in marketing.

Economic recovery in the mid-2000s spurred a holiday-party renaissance, only to be dashed once again in the 2008 recession. A few years later, Wall Street firms were reportedly back to enjoying hush-hush holiday festivities reminiscent of their heydays. The free-money firehose of the ZIRP era was in full force, and excess was back in style.

Danielle Kane, who was a reporter for a niche New York City financial-services publication between 2015 and 2017, said that one year her company flew the entire staff of 50 to 75 people to Berlin. "Hotels and flights were paid for, there was an experiential dinner at the Berlin TV Tower, and then they paid for everyone to get into a fancy club afterwards," she said. "It was a late night, and I've never experienced a company holiday party like it since."

For all their fun, these often cringe-inducing affairs earned a bad rap — one that may come to bite younger workers.

Despite some companies' largesse, the general workforce's enthusiasm for holiday parties has long been mixed. In a 2017 survey of American workers by Randstad, 90% of respondents said they'd rather receive bonuses or extra vacation days than attend a company holiday party. "The ideal situation," Constance Noonan Hadley, an organizational psychologist, told me, "is to offer activities that foster employee social health (such as a holiday party) without asking them to sacrifice their financial health (such as a bonus) or their mental health (such as time off)."

Companies squander the opportunity to make holiday gatherings meaningful in all sorts of small but critical ways. Hadley said the Christmas-specific focus of many company holiday parties could be alienating to workers who follow non-Christian religious traditions. Parties are often held at inconvenient times and places — too late on a weeknight for parents, in a location that has expensive parking or is hard to access. Holiday parties at big firms can also be loud, hot, and crowded, which makes it difficult to have meaningful conversations or meet new people.

Well-planned company holiday parties, on the other hand, can be a boon to employees' overall work experience and even strengthen company culture. A study of workers at several German companies in 2019 concluded that parties could encourage social bonding, especially when employees' feedback steered the planning. The study suggests, for example, that icebreaker activities that get people from different parts of the organization talking help build camaraderie, despite the eye rolls they may initially provoke. Over time, that can contribute to a happier and more cohesive work environment.

For early-career workers, the benefits can be more pronounced. Rick Hermanns, the president and CEO of HireQuest, a global staffing company, said social events could help make up for the "intangible aspects of career growth and camaraderie between colleagues" that younger workers may miss out on when they're partly or fully remote. In a 2023 Adobe poll of more than 1,000 Gen Z workers at midsize and large US companies, 83% of respondents said a workplace mentor was crucial for their career, but only 52% said they had one. While holiday parties aren't the be-all and end-all of workplace networking, they provide a critical opening to build and fortify connections.

"When I look back at my early career in banking in Los Angeles, I appreciated the time I had to walk into a senior executive's office or grab a beer after work with colleagues," Hermanns said. "Those are the intangibles you can't quantify yet ultimately impact your career growth." Simply put, face time matters.

It makes sense that Gen Z and millennial workers would be more enthusiastic about workplace holiday get-togethers than their Gen X and baby-boomer counterparts. "Company leaders need to help Gen Z — as well as millennials, whose workplace experience was hugely disrupted by COVID — to build strong interpersonal workplace relationships," Hubert Palan, the CEO of the product-management company Productboard, told Business Insider last year.

Given that much of the global workforce feels lonely on the job, it's not just the youngest workers who need a social boost. A new study Hadley coauthored evaluating workplace loneliness and remedies found that the loneliest people at work were those who were offered the fewest social opportunities by their employer. "In fact, the number of social offerings provided was one of our most predictive variables in terms of whether someone was socially connected at work or not," she told me. Hadley also found that while fully remote work did seem to increase the risk of loneliness, it was less significant of a variable than whether a person was introverted or worked for an organization that held regular social activities for staffers.

The German study suggests that a holiday party can serve as the ritual capstone for these more routine coworker events, making year-end hobnobbing just a little extra special. While the ideal party activities will depend on an organization's culture, a few basic considerations — such as hosting the event somewhere besides the boring old office — go a long way. Elements of fun help too, whether they take the form of a themed photo booth, a creative dining experience, or, yes, a DJ.

A dash of festive foresight can make the difference between the raunchy affairs of yesteryear and a few hours of meaningful, PG-rated bonding between coworkers. "A nice holiday event gives people a break in their wallets and signals that the leaders value personal connections and socializing," Hadley said.

For a company's youngest workers, the benefits may last a professional lifetime.

Kelli María Korducki is a journalist whose work focuses on work, tech, and culture. She's based in New York City.

• 29 countries offer residence visas for remote workers, or "digital nomad visas."
• Spain and Italy have joined the growing list of countries offering digital nomad visa programs.
• Governments hope the visas will help develop more sustainable tourist economies.

In the lead-up to the election, Business Insider reported millions of Americans were considering leaving the country if former President Donald Trump won his 2024 campaign. After his victory was announced, searches for the phrase "moving to Canada" spiked — along with inquiries about international digital nomad visas.

The specialized visas allow remote workers to live and work in countries like Malta, Portugal, and Costa Rica — as long as their income comes from outside the country.

And as some American tourists consider moving abroad, dozens of countries have, in recent years, launched special visas designed specifically for remote workers to drive tourism in their countries.

In some countries, the visas have become so popular that they've had to start turning people away. As of October 2024, for example, Cyprus is no longer accepting digital nomads after it filled the 500 slots it had available for its visa program.

Nonetheless, there are still plenty of options elsewhere. Here are 29 countries that offer visas specifically for remote workers, the minimum income required to apply, and how much they cost.

Europe digital nomad visas

Malta

Malta, an island south of Italy, has a permit that allows nomads to keep their jobs elsewhere and legally stay in the country for one year with a chance of renewal.

To be eligible, you must be from a country outside the EU and EEA and have a minimum gross annual income of 42,000 euros. The Nomad Residence Permit requires applicants to have health insurance, hold a valid travel document, have a rental or purchase agreement, and pass a background check. There is no application deadline, but there is a 300-euro application fee.

Latvia

Latvia introduced its digital nomad visa in February 2022, allowing applicants to spend up to a year in the country with the opportunity to renew for another.

Digital nomads must either work for a company based in a member state of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe) or a company registered in one of those countries for at least six months.

They must also have health insurance and make at least 2.5 times the country's average monthly salary of the previous year, which the government website reports is about $4,043 (€3,843). There's also a $63 (€60) state fee for the visa application.

Romania

To apply for Romania's digital nomad visa, digital nomads must show proof they can work remotely, either as freelancers, business owners, or employees of a company registered outside the country.

Applicants are also required to have a clean criminal record, medical insurance for the duration of the visa with a minimum liability of $31,580 (€30,000), make at least three times the average gross monthly salary in Romania, around $3,467 (€3,300), and pay an application fee of $126 (€120).

Hungary

Known as the White Card, the digital nomad visa in Hungary requires applicants to be employed by a company outside the country, have shares in a company outside the country, or work as a freelancer.

In addition to providing proof of health insurance and proof of accommodation, those keen on getting a White Card must earn at least $3,146 (€3,000) a month. Application fees can cost as much as $297 (€284).

Croatia

Croatia allows non-EU citizens to apply for its digital nomad visa program, which grants up to one year of residency for remote workers.

The program also allows residency for close family members of the visa applicant so long as the family meets the country's income requirements. To be eligible, applicants must make a minimum of 2,870 euros a month (or $3,035) or have a minimum of 34,440 euros (or $36,430) already available in their account.

Iceland

In Iceland, a long-term visa for remote work can grant you 90 to 180 days while working. The program requires that you are from a country outside the EU and EEA and also from a country that does not need a visa to travel to the Schengen area (US citizens can travel to Iceland without a visa).

Applicants must also have a monthly income of 1,000,000 Icelandic króna (or $7,156) or 1,300,000 Icelandic króna if they bring a spouse.

Greece

Greece started its Digital Nomad Visa in 2021 and is still operating today. The program lets non-EU digital nomads, with a 3,500-euro monthly income, stay for 12 months.

The application fee is refundable at 75 euros, and there's also an administration fee of about 150 euros.

Portugal

Portugal has been kind to digital nomads. With its "Temporary Residence Visa for the Exercise of Professional Activity Provided Remotely Outside the National Territory," or D8 visa, launched in 2022, non-EU nomads can still freely work there.

Applicants must be over 18 years old, prove income over 3,280 euros a month, and show proof of accommodation for at least 12 months. The application fee ranges from 75 to 90 euros.

Estonia

Estonia launched its Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) program in 2020, offering up to a year of residency for eligible workers looking to live in the Northern European country bordering the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland.

Eligible remote workers must prove they earn at least 3,504 euros a month (or $3,706) and apply in person at their nearest Estonian Embassy or Consulate. Application fees range between 80 and 100 euros ($84 and $105).

Spain

Spain's Digital Nomad Visa Program allows remote workers, their spouse or unmarried partner, and dependent children to reside in the country for one year.

Applicants must have an undergraduate or postgraduate degree from a "University, College, or Business School of prestige" or have at least 3 years of work experience in their current field, in addition to earning at least 200% of the monthly Spanish national minimum wage — currently set at 37.8 euros/day ($39) or 1,134 euros/month ($1,199).

Italy

Italy's Digital Nomad Visa is available to non-EU citizens who are highly specialized workers with careers that require post-secondary degrees or at least three years of professional training or experience.

The visa lasts up to one year for the applicant, their spouse, and dependent children. To be eligible, the applicant must prove that their salary is at least three times the annual minimum wage of 24,789 euros (or $26,221) and that they have at least 30,000 euros (or $50,000) worth of medical insurance coverage.

Asia and Africa digital nomad visas

Bali, Indonesia

In April, Bali introduced a Remote Worker Visa (E33G), which allows digital nomads to work from Bali for a year. Foreign workers in Bali must be employed by a company outside Indonesia and receive a yearly income of at least $60,000.

The application fee for a standard single-entry visa costs 12,900,000 Indonesian rupiah, or about $810.

Thailand

The Destination Thailand Visa allows digital nomads to stay in Thailand for up to 180 days per visit, on a multiple-entry basis, within five years. The visa fee costs 10,000 Thai baht, or $284.

Applicants must be at least 20 years old and have at least THB 500,000, or about $14,400 USD, in their bank. Employed workers are required to have a foreign employment contract, while freelancers need a professional portfolio.

Japan

Japan introduced a new digital nomad visa in April. This visa allows holders to work remotely in the country for up to six months. Visa holders must be nationals or citizens of selected regions, including the US and UK.

Applicants must have an annual income of at least 10,000,000 Japanese yen, or $65,000, and submit their applications in person or by mail to the nearest embassy or consulate general of Japan. A single-entry visa costs $22, while a multiple-entry visa costs $43, but some countries, including the US, are exempt from this fee.

United Arab Emirates

UAE's virtual work residence visa allows holders to live and work remotely in the UAE — including Dubai and Abu Dhabi — for up to a year. Applicants must make at least $3,500 a month and have sufficient health insurance coverage within the country.

The service fee to apply for the visa is 300 United Arab Emirates Dirhams, or about $80.

Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde's Remote Working Program allows remote workers to stay for up to 6 months, with the option of renewal after. Individual applicants must have an average bank balance of 1,500 euros, or $1,570, in the past 6 months.

The visa fee costs 20 euros, and applicants must submit an online form to indicate their interest.

South Africa

South Africa recently launched a remote work visa, which allows holders to stay for at least 3 months and up to 3 years. While details are still being finalized, the latest visa requirements state that applicants must have a salary of at least 650,796 South African Rand, or about $36,000, and a valid foreign-based employment contract.

Caribbean digital nomad visas

Grenada

To receive a digital nomad visa from Grenada, you need a valid passport, an annual income of at least EC$100,000 a year, or about $37,000, full COVID-19 vaccination, and valid health insurance.

There is no application deadline. The fee is $1,500 for individuals, $2,000 for a family of four, and $200 for each additional dependent.

St. Lucia

St. Lucia's Digital Nomad Visa program, "Don't Just Visit, Live It," has no income threshold. The one-year visa is available to remote workers, freelancers, and students.

The application fee costs $125 XCD (about $47) for a single-entry visa or $190 XCD (about $70) for a multiple-entry visa.

Curaçao

Curaçao's Digital Nomad Visa, the At Home in Curaçao program, has no salary requirements. Still, you must be employed, own a business, or have freelance clients outside the country.

Health insurance, a clean criminal record, and proof of accommodation or a lease on the island are also required. The visa application fee is about $294.

Dominica

To qualify for Dominica's Digital Nomad Visa, the Work in Nature (WIN) Program, you must be 18 years old and have a clean criminal record.

You will also need an income of at least $50,000 or have sufficient funds to support yourself and any family members accompanying you during a 12-month stay.

The application fee is $100. The individual visa costs $800, and the primary applicant can also apply for their spouse and dependents for a total fee of $1,200.

Anguilla

The digital nomad visa in Anguilla has no income requirements, but interested travelers must fill out an application at least 7 days before arrival.

Digital nomads also need proof of a negative COVID-19 test 3 to 5 days before they step foot on the island and proof of a health insurance policy covering COVID-19 complications.

Antigua and Barbuda

To nab Antigua and Barbuda's two-year visa through the Nomad Digital Residency Programme, applicants must be 18 or older, earn at least $50,000 a year, and have a clean criminal record.

Their employer must be outside Antigua and Barbuda as well. Application fees range from $1,500 for a single person to $3,000 for a family of three, plus another $650 for each additional dependent.

Barbados

Introduced in June 2020, the Barbados 12-Month Welcome Stamp offers a one-year visa for digital nomads interested in the island and the opportunity to renew.

Applicants must make at least $50,000. Fees are $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a family bundle and must be paid within 28 days of application approval.

North, Central, and South America digital nomad visas

Bermuda

The Work from Bermuda certificate was created for "remote workers, self-employed digital nomads and university students engaged in remote learning," according to the program's web page. It lasts for 12 months and is renewable on a case-by-case basis.

The application fee is $275, and interested applicants must be at least 18 years old, have a clean criminal record, and have valid health insurance.

There is no official salary requirement, but applicants must demonstrate that they "have substantial means" or a "continuous source of income," though no official range is provided.

Colombia

Colombia's "Visa V Digital Nomads" program allows expats from more than 100 countries to live and work remotely in the tropical country for up to two years. Applicants must make a minimum income of three times the current legal monthly minimum wage in Colombia, which currently equals about $885 a month.

The application costs $54, and if approved, the Visa itself costs another $177. People hoping to become digital nomads in Colombia must also provide a contract or employment letter detailing their employment agreement and compensation details. Entrepreneurs may alternatively submit a letter outlining their business project and financial resources.

Belize

Belize offers citizens of the European Union, the United Kindom, the United States, and Canada the chance to live and work in the country via its "Work Where You Vacation" program. Applicants can secure a six-month visa by proving they make a minimum annual income of $75,000 or $100,000 if applying with dependants. Kids under 18 are eligible to enroll in the country's school system.

Applicants must submit a notarized banking reference, a police record, and proof of travel insurance. The visa costs $500 per adult and $200 per child.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica's digital nomad program extends the country's 90-day tourist visa to a full year with the option to renew for an additional year. Applicants must be foreign nationals who earn a minimum of $3,000 a month or $4,000 a month if applying with dependants.

All application materials must be submitted in Spanish. The application costs $100, while the visa is an additional $90.

Brazil

Brazil's digital nomad visa (VITEM XIV) allows foreign nationals from more than 100 countries to work remotely in the South American country for one year and to renew for longer.

The visa is available to remote workers who can prove a monthly minimum income of $1,500 or an available bank balance of at least $18,000. Applicants must submit a background check, a copy of their birth certificate, proof of valid health insurance in Brazil, and documents proving digital nomad status.

The visa costs $290 for US applicants and between $100 and $215 for UK applicants. Expats from all other countries will pay $100 for the visa.

• Remote workers are slightly more likely to have side gigs than in-person or hybrid peers.
• Extra time from remote work may enable more side hustles like consulting or rideshare.
• Some data shows employees who choose where to work are more productive.

Remote workers are more likely to have side gigs than their office-based peers — 34% versus 29% — according to a new LinkedIn Workforce Confidence survey of 8,606 US professionals.

The trend toward additional income streams appears strongest among those with flexible work arrangements. While only a quarter of full-time employees reported having a side gig, the number jumps to 52% for freelancers and 46% for both contractors and self-employed workers.

Side gigs include working as consultants, rideshare drivers, and rental property managers.

Remote workers' higher participation in side hustles could stem from increased time savings from not commuting. GPS data from traffic analytics company INRIX shows supercommuting — or traveling over 75 miles to work — has been on the rise over the last few years. The same trend applies to commutes over 40 miles for the country's 10 largest cities.

The higher rate of side gigs among remote workers, though small, could also stem from some evidence that productivity slows when workers are pushed to return to the office.

LinkedIn cited a May 2024 Great Place to Work survey of 4,400 US employees, which found that workers who could choose where they work were more likely to exceed expectations and have better relationships with their bosses.

However, the data is complicated, as various remote work studies have different conclusions. Stanford economists found 10% lower productivity for fully remote work compared to fully in-person work. Meanwhile, a separate Stanford report found that hybrid work had no effect on productivity or career advancement compared to in-person work.

Dozens of employees with side hustles, particularly those in remote roles, have told Business Insider about their strategies for maximizing their income. Some particularly successful side hustlers said content creation and selling on Etsy were simple ways to grow their income while working full-time.

Some remote workers told BI they drive for Uber or DoorDash while working as accountants or analysts. Dozens of drivers have told BI over the last year that falling earnings and growing competition have made it challenging to make enough, though many value the flexibility to drive during lunch breaks or before or after their full-time jobs.

Both remote and in-person workers previously told BI that real-estate side hustles have been particularly fruitful. Jesse Singh, 29, worked two nursing roles, which he used to fund his real estate company. Once he sold a $2.2 million property, he cut his nursing hours.

Some said they quit their in-person corporate roles for full-time remote positions, which allowed them to better craft their schedules and add in other income streams. Some turned their remote reselling side hustles on sites like eBay into full-time positions.

Natalie Fischer left her corporate job in 2023 to grow her business as a finance content creator and is now bringing in over $150,000 in revenue in 2024. She's diversified her revenue through user-generated content and money workshops, and she's looking to secure speaking engagements.

BI has also reported on dozens of "overemployed" remote workers who secretly work multiple jobs to earn six-figure incomes. Many said they don't feel guilt for working multiple remote positions, even as remote roles become scarcer and harder to get.

Patrick, a millennial in California, previously told BI that because his remote account manager role didn't give him enough work for an eight-hour workday, he took on an additional full-time role and freelance work, bringing his income to nearly $200,000.