• Despite negative stereotypes, some people are working longer in a hybrid world.
• This "work intensification" has been going on for decades.
• Setting boundaries is crucial to avoid burning out, says organizational psychologist Amanda Jones.

In an era of quiet quitting, the Great Resignation, and lazy girl jobs, the assumption is that workers are slacking.

These trends are actually all symptoms of a workforce that is toiling harder and longer and doing more with less, according to Amanda Jones. The senior lecturer in organizational behaviour and HR management at King's Business School at King's College London specializes in remote working and work-life balance.

Jones told Business Insider that "work intensification has been happening for decades. She remembers hearing about it and becoming interested in the concept while she was at school.

When Jones was doing her doctorate, a professor at Cardiff University called Alan Felsted, agreed to be her examiner. He has studied work intensification extensively.

"One of the things that always fascinates me about this is that it's never gone down," Jones said, pointing to Felsted's research. "We are working harder progressively over time."

The end result isn't increased productivity, it's burnout and detachment.

Jones said that quitting as a concept in response to feeling overwhelmed by one's workload is "quite victim-blaming; it could be just that they can't take it anymore."

'Race to the bottom'

The negative impacts of work intensification include burnout and stress, which can lead to people taking long-term sick leave and putting a strain on the economy.

"You've got people who are economically inactive, so they're not paying taxes, they're possibly receiving benefits instead," Jones said.

"It's going to not only cost more, but if we're doing this to people in the skilled section of the workforce, it's also not going to help us with our skills gaps, so productivity will reduce," she added. "It does feel a bit like a race to the bottom."

Some companies are implementing a four-day workweek, which is a step in the right direction, in Jones' view.

All organizations should be aware that "what's happening isn't going to benefit them in the long run," she said. "I think probably there's a policy intervention that's necessary."

Increasingly intense digital world

Researchers have linked work intensification to the pandemic.

The stereotype is that people who work remotely are less productive, stepping away from their computers to do household chores or run errands.

This has factored into the decisions of several prominent companies requiring their staff to return to the office — sometimes up to five days a week.

This is another misconception, though, Jones said, because people who work from home can actually attend more meetings than before.

"It provides you with more opportunity to participate in work," she said.

"If you can't go to a meeting, in the old days, you couldn't go to a meeting, you couldn't physically get there. Now, we can go to everything."

Setting boundaries

Having work at our fingertips — emails and messaging apps on our phones — has caused our professional lives to bleed into our personal ones more than ever.

"People go on holiday and they do all this extra work," Jones said. "It doesn't feel difficult — you've got your phone in your hand and you're able to let go."

Jones said she's taken note of this and now deletes her email and her LinkedIn apps when she goes on vacation.

"There's this whole requirement to build your brand and to constantly be employable and always be looking for work, which adds to the intensification. It's this 'I must always be marketable' culture, which, for younger people, I worry they're going to be burned out before they're 30 at this rate."

Jones also recommends setting boundaries to avoid getting sucked into the work intensification cycle, even if it's difficult to do so.

"If you are in a context where your organization is not supporting that so much, often people don't feel that they have any choice other than to exit or try to retrain or do something else," she said.

Ultimately, people need to be aware of what is and is not acceptable and healthy for them.

"Some people do just have a propensity toward overwork, and we do have a duty of care to make sure that we are not overburdening those kind of people," Jones said.

"But then again, they're exactly the kind of people who tend to get things done. So I think there's that element of having to have self-awareness and knowing how to look after yourself."

Are return-to-office mandates actually a stealth tactic to get employees to quit? It's a suspicion I've heard from a lot of people since RTO efforts started in earnest in 2022. For years I didn't take the theory seriously: It struck me as incredibly cynical. Besides, it didn't make any sense from a business perspective. What company in its right mind would risk a mass exodus just to save a few dollars on severance packages? But over the past year I've started to wonder if the cynics are right.

It started with Amazon's decision to end hybrid work last fall. When employees expressed their unhappiness over the decision, an executive responded with a clear signal: "There are other companies around." Then there was the unsubtle declaration from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who predicted their in-office mandate for federal employees would spur "a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome." Last month, when Intel ordered employees to start coming in four days a week, it warned that it needed to shrink its workforce — adding to the ranks of companies like IBM and Dell announcing stricter office attendance requirements and job cuts in more or less the same breath. Last year, when the software provider BambooHR surveyed VPs and C-suite executives, 25% said they hoped for some voluntary turnover as a result of their RTO mandates. It turns out the cynics weren't so cynical after all: For many employers, ordering people back to the office has become an unofficial tool of attrition.

Companies are right to believe that making people come into the office will drive some of them away. If I've learned one thing from reporting on the RTO wars over the past few years, it's that people really like the ability to work from home. They like it so much that, on average, they value it as a job perk equivalent to 8% of their salary — a number that may be as high as 25% among tech workers. If your business isn't doing well, or if you need to reallocate head count among departments, it makes sense to force some attrition — especially during a period of economic uncertainty, when virtually no one is quitting their job. By pushing employees to leave voluntarily, employers reduce their payroll without having to provide the departing workers with severance or health insurance. It's layoffs on the cheap.

The RTO push isn't just financial. Bosses want to go back to happier pre-pandemic times when everyone was in the office all the time, even if that means losing a few stars in the process. They think employees will be more productive under the watchful gaze of their managers. They think teams will get along better by seeing one another in person. They think that their new grads will learn faster by overhearing the conversations of their mentors, and that people from different teams will run into one another around the watercooler and come up with the next breakthrough idea. The more of that, the better, they think — and soon even the reluctant workers will realize this was the better way all along, so best just to eliminate work-from-home days altogether. "It will look just like it did before," JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon explained, "and everyone's going to be happy with it."

So companies see an upside, both financial and cultural, in putting an end to hybrid work. And they're gambling that in the current job market, most employees will have no choice but to come into the office as ordered. Sure, some people will grumble about losing their work-from-home lifestyles. And some may even quit. But in a time of corporate contraction, that can seem like a good thing. When you're trying to slash your workforce by 20%, every employee who leaves is one fewer employee you have to lay off.

Given the current state of the job market, their gamble might well pay off. But I think employers may be underestimating the downsides of RTO mandates. For starters, spurring a voluntary exodus gives companies no control over how many employees will quit. That means they could end up overshooting their target: When the dating app Grindr revoked its work-from-home policy in 2023, nearly half its workforce resigned. That kind of wholesale flight is unlikely in the current job market, but it underscores the risk of rolling the dice with an RTO mandate.

Even more importantly, companies can't control who decides to leave. Researchers who studied the effects of RTO at Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX found that the companies lost more senior employees than low-level workers. And in a broader study of companies in the S&P 500, researchers found that employers also lost some of their most skilled employees. "You're going to get negative selection," says Nick Bloom, an economist at Stanford who studies remote work. "The ones who leave are the ones that can pull an outside offer, who are the better employees." Yes, the rocky state of the job market will prevent most employees from jumping ship. But the best of the best will always be in demand. That's especially the case right now for AI specialists, who are the very workers businesses can least afford to lose in the AI wars. Ordering people back to the office means you'll lose some of your best people.

Some employers are getting around the brain drain by quietly exempting their mission-critical employees from the RTO mandates. Sometimes these exemptions are official, covering entire teams assigned to high-priority projects or individual hotshots the company doesn't want to lose to a competitor. But in many cases, the exemptions are unofficial: a middle manager, say, who looks the other way when high performers don't come into the office every day. Either way, exemptions foster a sense of inequality, which can lead to resentment among employees who feel they're being treated unfairly. In one study, job satisfaction ratings declined significantly post-RTO — and unhappy employees make for unproductive ones. Companies might think that ordering everyone back to the office will foster an esprit de corps and spur everyone to greater heights of creativity and innovation. But the data suggests otherwise.

In short, companies that adopt a take-it-or-leave-it attitude over RTO can wind up getting the worst of both worlds. They lose their top talent while retaining their average and low performers — employees whose performance will likely dip even lower in the post-RTO regime.

Now, let's assume that the CEOs who are implementing RTO mandates are aware of the risk they're taking. So why don't they just do things the old-fashioned way and lay people off, instead of trying to force them to leave? By choosing whom to fire, they could keep their best employees and let their mediocre ones go. That's what companies like Microsoft and Meta are doing: aggressively laying off those they view as low performers to make room in their budgets to hire more AI engineers.

But layoffs also come with a significant downside. Studies show they create a culture of fear, which affects the productivity and performance of the employees who survive — perhaps even as much as an RTO mandate would. When it comes to making cuts to their workforces, employers are going to pay a price no matter how they go about it. The question is: What's the best way to mitigate the negative consequences in the current environment?

Over the past five years, an army of economists, organizational psychologists, and management scholars has scrutinized every aspect of our great work-from-home experiment. Their conclusion is unequivocal: By almost any metric, hybrid work works. It boosts employee engagement, maintains productivity, and engenders loyalty and retention among high performers. So one answer for companies that need to cut their workforce might be to zig when everyone else is zagging. By limiting RTO to three days a week, say, instead of four, companies can hold on to more of their superstars than their corporate rivals, while still enjoying the benefits of in-person collaboration. Yes, they might have to increase layoffs in the short run. But when the economy rebounds, as it eventually will, they'll be better positioned to expand. By bucking the trend, companies can stand out from the crowd. And in a crowded market, being a standout is exactly where you want to be.

Aki Ito is a chief correspondent at Business Insider.

• When I had my first kid, I was worried about juggling work and motherhood, so I almost resigned.
• Thankfully, the pandemic allowed me to work from home, making me a better mom to my growing family.
• With return-to-office mandates on the rise, I'm worried this right will be taken from me.

When my newly wedded husband and I moved into our New York City apartment in January 2019, I ran to the Duane Reade across the street to buy a pregnancy test.

Alone in our new home while my husband was at work, I learned I was expecting our first child. A mix of terror and excitement quickly took over. I wondered how we would fit into this one-bedroom apartment as a small family.

One question nagged me the most: How would I juggle being a parent with my career in the media industry?

In the years that followed, I managed to maintain my career while parenting three children, and now I have another on the way. The ability to work remotely made it possible.

Right now, I go into the office two days a week, and though we make it work with the help of a nanny and day care, it isn't easy. I'm worried I'll eventually be forced to go in every day.

For many working mothers, remote work has been the missing key. We were given the opportunity to work remotely for years during the pandemic and got to see how helpful it was for keeping us in the workforce.

In a country with limited maternity leave, unaffordable childcare, and pay inequality, remote work is a necessary safeguard that helps mothers, with kids of any age, stay employed without compromising their role as caregivers. It's not about asking for special treatment; it's about ensuring equal access to opportunity.

Now, as return-to-office mandates are on the rise, I worry this vital workplace right for mothers is being ripped away.

It was difficult for me to juggle my career and new parenthood

When my maternity leave ended in February 2020, I left my 4-month-old daughter, Giordana, at home with a nanny for the first time. I had to commute over an hour from our new Long Island apartment to work in Midtown Manhattan.

Though I was excited to feel like my old self again, with cares and responsibilities beyond breastfeeding and changing diapers, my thoughts centered on my daughter all day.

The emotional toll involved in leaving my first and only child at home affected my mental well-being and my ability to be a good mother. I quickly became drained from the commute and sitting at a desk for hours a day. I would come home mentally and physically exhausted, with very little energy to engage with my child.

Childcare instantly became a problem, too. Not only was it expensive, but my part-time nanny couldn't be there every day — and sometimes, not even for the full day. Within weeks of returning to work, I found myself asking my mom, who luckily had a flexible schedule at her own full-time job, to fill in. The stress rippled across multiple generations.

Around that time, I had a heart-to-heart with my husband — an architect who owns a firm, earns more than I do, and goes to the office in Manhattan five days a week. I asked him how he would feel if I quit my job and started freelancing so I could care for our daughter full time at home.

My husband understood where I was coming from, though he seemed anxious at the prospect of taking on the entire financial burden of our family.

A few days later, my human resources department sent a note requesting everyone start working from home because of the pandemic, effective immediately. The move saved my sanity and my career.

Working from home made it easier to juggle my responsibilities

Suddenly, I could be home with my daughter when she was only a few months old. I was busier than ever at work, but at least I could feed Giordana, change her diaper, take her on a walk during my lunch break, and, most importantly, go through her bedtime routine.

Five years later, I'm now a mother of three and pregnant with our fourth. In August 2022, my company implemented a two-day-a-week in-office mandate.

I'm grateful to work for a company that understands the benefits of a hybrid schedule. Allowing me to work from home three days a week gives me the flexibility to pick up my kids from school if needed, take them to the doctor when they're sick, attend school events on the days I'm not in the office, and be home when they return from school.

It's about being physically present and being able to kiss them hello and ask how their day was before the chaos of bedtime, which is always tougher after a long day at the office.

Still, every HR email that pops into my inbox makes my stomach drop. I worry it will be a message about a full-time return-to-office mandate that would force me to choose between my career and my family responsibilities.

I understand there are some women who work in industries where remote work is impossible, but I wish some companies understood that forcing working mothers back into the office full-time is a mistake, especially when the job can be done at home.

Mothers in the US are facing a brutal decision

Mothers dealing with full-time RTO mandates often face one of two paths: continue working full time and pay for childcare or quit the workforce to raise their children.

These choices will be familiar to many women who worked before COVID. But the pandemic showed how inflexibility can cut both ways.

Employment by working mothers fell more sharply than for other groups during the pandemic. The Pew Research Center found that 2.4 million women left the workforce from February 2020 to 2021, compared to 1.8 million men. Women may have been disproportionately affected because they're usually the primary caregivers, facing unique challenges.

Workplace flexibility, which has been the trend post-pandemic, appears to have helped reverse this. According to the US Department of Labor, in February 2024, there were more working mothers than before the pandemic.

Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University professor who has studied the effects of hybrid and remote work, says that the right to work from home must be protected to keep women in the workforce.

"Supporting such schedules is going to give the biggest boost to female employment," Bloom told me. "Hybrid and work-from-home schedules are one of the factors supporting parents — particularly, women — remaining in the workforce."

"We know that the ability to be flexible at work is incredibly important when trying to keep women in the workforce," Tanya van Biesen, the CEO of VersaFi, an advocacy group for women in finance roles, told BI. "It makes a difference both in attracting and keeping women at work."

I believe I'm owed the right to work from home as a mother

While I'm lucky that my company has taken a hybrid approach, I believe more companies should allow women to work from home altogether so they can stay in the workforce.

The benefits I've noticed from working from home — both for my mental health and for the ability to raise kids in a way that makes financial sense — are unparalleled. That's why I believe denying remote work to mothers should be considered indirect discrimination since women usually bear the burden of caregiving.

Why should I have to choose between being present for my children and having a career?

Ultimately, work-from-home is not a perk; it's a shift toward creating a more equitable work environment for mothers.

• I've been to over 20 countries in Europe, and have eaten my way through tons of cities and towns.
• I think Florence has the best pizza, pasta, and gelato in Italy.
• In my opinion, Edinburgh has the best fish and chips in the UK.

When I first moved to the UK in 2021, I had one major goal: to travel as much as possible.

I spent my free time seeing the world with exciting weekend getaways, road trips, and hikes. Before I knew it, I had checked more than 20 European countries off my bucket list.

As a self-proclaimed foodie, one of my favorite things to do when traveling is to explore the culinary scene.

Although plenty of major European cities have delicious offerings, these five have become my go-to places for great food.

I love the vibrant multicultural food scene in Athens.

Greek dishes remind me that great food doesn't have to have a million ingredients to be memorable.

Vegetables, feta, olive oil, and herbs create a fresh, fragrant salad; grilled meats and tzatziki prove simple but nourishing; and you can't go wrong with freshly caught seafood. I've enjoyed all this and more in the capital city of Athens.

For authentic Greek fare, I love visiting places like Karamanlidika and Ella Greek Cooking.

I also highly recommend exploring Athens' vibrant multicultural food scene, which includes Kurdish, Ethiopian, and Thai cuisines, among many others.

One of my favorite restaurants is Feyrouz, which serves fresh artisanal Levantine street food. Its peinirli (a sort of boat-shaped pizza) and lahmacun (a Middle Eastern flatbread) shouldn't be missed.

I love how fresh the food tastes in Copenhagen.

From its innovative Michelin-starred restaurants to its New Nordic cuisine, Copenhagen's culinary scene has blown me away.

Copenhagen is home to my favorite pastry in the world: a cardamom bun from Juno the Bakery. It's warm, buttery, doughy, and oozing with aromatic cardamom and pearl sugar.

I also like to stop by local café chain Mad & Kaffe for a delightful brunch flight and Torvehallerne market for a lunch of traditional smørrebrøds, or open-faced sandwiches.

Porto is best known for its wine.

Located on the banks of the Douro River, Porto is synonymous with port wine, a type of fortified wine that's been produced in the region for centuries and often served with dessert.

I recommend visiting Cockburn's, Burmester, or Graham's for guided cellar tours and port wine tastings.

Drinks aside, there are many great foods to try, here, too.

For a traditional Portuguese pork sandwich called a bifana, I like to eat at Conga. I also love the delicious spreads of tapas at The Door, TapaBento, and The Wine Box.

I'd also be remiss not to mention pastel de nata, the classic custard Portuguese pastry. In my opinion, Fábrica da Nata and Manteigaria have some of the best the country has to offer.

I think Florence has the best pizza, pasta, and gelato in Italy.

Florence is my favorite Italian city to visit. It's extremely walkable, boasts striking Renaissance art and architecture, and has the best pizza, pasta, and gelato I've had in the country.

I recommend visiting Gustarium Firenze for their pizza al taglio, or pizza by the cut. There, you can sample multiple types of pizza with puffy, olive-oil infused crust, fresh-tasting ingredients, and unique flavor combinations, all for what I consider to be a reasonable price.

To scratch your pasta craving, I suggest stopping by La Giostra or Osteria Pastella. The former offers a romantic, cozy ambiance with brick arches from the 16th century, touting incredible tiramisu and ravioli with pecorino and pear. The latter is famous for its cheese wheel and truffle pasta.

The best way to end your food tour is with a stop at Sbrino, a gelateria that uses natural ingredients. It's the best gelato I've had anywhere in the world.

I think my home city of Edinburgh has the best fish and chips in the UK.

I truly think my home city of Edinburgh has it all — mountains, medieval architecture, literary history, and a vibrant festival scene.

For traditional Scottish fare, I suggest visiting the Scran and Scallie. This restaurant adds an elevated twist to the basics, and has a rotating seasonal menu (and the best fish and chips I've had in the UK).

I also recommend trying haggis at Arcade Bar or Whiski Rooms. If you're looking for more fine-dining options, places like Eleanore and Moss highlight the very best of Scottish produce.

Finally, I recommend capping off your visit by wandering through the charming neighborhood of Stockbridge for a long black at Cafēn and a pastry from Lannan Bakery.

• Returning to the office disrupted my family routines in a way I wasn't expecting.
• The transition back to office life was chaotic, impacting both my family and personal well-being.
• I learned that I needed to set boundaries and ask for help to achieve a work-life balance.

After spending years working from home, I thought I had adjusted to a new normal, one where morning coffee was enjoyed in sweatpants, meetings happened at my kitchen table, and I could pivot between work and parenting without the added stress of a commute. It wasn't always smooth, but it was mine.

When I was told I'd be transitioning back to the office, I underestimated just how disruptive that shift would be. I didn't just forget how to commute or dress for work, I also forgot how to juggle everything. The routines I had carefully constructed around my family, the way I managed school pick-ups, homework help, and dinner prep, all came crashing down. Mornings turned into frenzied chaos. I'd find myself brushing my teeth while packing lunches, reminding my 11-year-old son to grab his gym shoes and helping my 13-year-old daughter find the permission form she swore she handed in. All while trying to leave the house looking like a professional adult and not someone barely holding it together.

The transition wasn't smooth

The first week back in the office was disorienting. There was a strange unfamiliarity to the fluorescent lighting, the awkward small talk, and the background hum of keyboards and printers. I felt like I had been dropped into someone else's life. The office buzzed with energy and productivity, but I was consumed by a quiet panic, wondering if I had left dinner ingredients defrosting, or if I'd make it in time for my daughter's volleyball game.

Evenings weren't any easier. By the time I got home, I was exhausted physically from the commute and emotionally from trying to hold everything together. Dinner became an afterthought. I'd throw together something quick, rushing through meals just to get to bedtime. The guilt of not being fully present for my kids crept in. I was there, but not really there. My mind was constantly toggling between deadlines, to-do lists, and the emotional labor of motherhood.

The struggle started impacting my family

I tried to power through, but the burnout came fast. I was irritable, sleep-deprived, and starting to question whether I could continue at this pace without breaking.

It wasn't until my daughter's teacher gently asked if everything was okay at home that I realized I wasn't just failing at balance. I was drowning in the expectation that I could fall back into an old life without anything else giving way.

One night, after putting the kids to bed, I sat at the kitchen table with my spouse and did something radical: I admitted I couldn't do it alone.

I started making changes

I began by setting boundaries, at work, at home, and most importantly, with myself. I stopped checking emails after 7 p.m., even when the guilt whispered that I should. I started meal prepping on Sundays to take some pressure off weeknights. I blocked out short windows in my calendar for breaks or quick check-ins with my kids.

One of the most important shifts was finally accepting help, something I had always struggled with. I leaned more on my spouse and we started truly co-managing the chaos. He picked up groceries on his way home, handled school drop-offs, and took the lead on bedtime when I had late meetings. We stopped assuming the other person knew what was needed and started communicating better.

We also leaned on our parents for help with school pickups and weekend childcare. At first, it felt like admitting defeat, but I quickly realized that calling on them in wasn't weakness. It gave them more time with their grandchildren and gave me much-needed breathing room.

Over time, a new rhythm began to emerge, not perfect, but more sustainable. I learned to approach each day with grace and flexibility, I forgave myself for the rushed mornings, and I celebrated the small wins.

Returning to the office was never going to be seamless, and I wish I had given myself more compassion from the start. But in navigating the messiness, I uncovered strength in places I hadn't looked before. I learned how to adapt, how to accept help, and how to prioritize what really matters.

• Uber is reportedly cracking down on remote work, return-to-office plans, and other benefits.
• CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the changes might prompt Uber employees to look for jobs elsewhere.
• Tech companies have been pulling back on remote work and other employee benefits.

Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi is perfectly OK with employees who don't agree with him wanting to jump ship.

Khosrowshahi has recently made a slew of changes that might rub some workers the wrong way. He wants corporate employees back in the office at least three days a week, is asking remote workers to return to the office, and is extending the number of years people have to work before being offered a paid sabbatical.

In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Khosrowshahi said these changes could push some employees away, but they're in luck.

"The good news is the economy is still really strong. The job market is strong," he said. "People who work at Uber, they have lots of opportunities everywhere."

Hedging his comments, Khosrowshahi said that the company would, of course, like the employees to stick around but that the changes are sticking around.

"We want them, obviously, to take the opportunity with us, to take the opportunity to learn," Khosrowshahi added.

"We want more people in the office," Khosrowshahi said, adding that the revised policy gives employees flexibility to work from home two days a week, on Monday and Friday.

"It's the right mix of giving your employees flexibility but also getting them to the office for those all-important teamwork tasks," he said.

An Uber spokesperson said the changes weren't related to planned layoffs or meant to drive attrition. Starting in June, employees are expected to work in the office three days a week.

Big Tech companies have been cutting or revising various employee benefits over the past few years.

Recent changes to Amazon's compensation structure, for instance, reward top-performing employees and reduce what some low-performing workers earn.

Lately, though, some tech executives have given their staff a choice to either "disagree and commit" to the changes or leave the company.

Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, told employees that it was their choice after the company rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and said it would cut its low-performing employees.

There have also been multiple rounds of layoffs at Big Tech firms. Some companies, such as Microsoft, have explicitly made job cuts based on job performance.

Do you have a story to share about Uber? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• Christine Wong-Tai, who works in healthcare IT, struggled with a return-to-office mandate.
• She was forced to go into the office regularly right after moving farther away; her commute doubled.
• She also struggled to coordinate childcare, so she quit her job and found a remote one.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Christine Wong-Tai. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I used to work for a healthcare company in New York City, and it seemed the organization never understood remote work.

Post-COVID, when we'd all obviously had to work remotely for two years, they said we needed to begin a gradual return to the office. At first, they didn't push it; they just talked up the benefits of returning to the office, saying it was better for collaboration and productivity.

Honestly, at that time, I quite enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the house once a week and see my colleagues in person. It was a welcome break from being a mom of three.

This was before they mandated it, and they were still being flexible. But then my family moved house.

Returning to the office weekly made me stressed

We moved in 2022. By then, I had three young children and we needed a bigger house. We also wanted to be in an area where there were good schools. We moved from New York City to the Hudson Valley.

When we moved, and my commute time doubled to an hour and 45 minutes, I felt differently. At first, it was manageable because they weren't demanding our return to the office. It was around once a month; I could work that out with my husband.

Then the organization bumped up the requirement to four times a month. That's when the strain and stress started. They started to track compliance by keeping tabs on whether you met your four times per month.

It was a logistical nightmare

Logistically, it became very hard to manage, and my stress skyrocketed. My husband was working night shifts at the time, which complicated things further.

We had to hire additional childcare help. It wasn't an attractive proposition for caretakers, as it was just waiting around for an hour or two for my kids' buses. It was also difficult to hire them.

Life became a logistical nightmare, navigating different people, priorities, and schedules. I didn't see my kids before I left in the mornings as they were still asleep, and when I came home, I was just too tired to focus on anything, including them.

Obviously, many parents navigate these things but I found it so difficult keeping everything balanced. I had to make a change and quit.

I left that job and now happily work from home

I've since found an organization that matches my needs to work flexibly and remotely. I'm currently 99% remote in my new job in IT leadership for a healthcare firm.

My stress is down; my productivity is through the roof. As a leader in my new position, I don't force my team members to go into the office. We do still occasionally get together in person for special events.

I've noticed people are happier and more productive in my new workplace because they can work remotely.

For me, I get four hours back in my day. I also get $600 a month back in my bank account: the money I save on gas, train tickets and childcare. That's huge. No wonder I'm happier.

• Employees at JPMorgan's largest US office are back five days a week as of last week.
• The Polaris site in Columbus, Ohio, is a major tech hub with more than 12,000 workers.
• Employees spoke to BI about jockeying for desks and parking in their first week back.

JPMorgan Chase's largest US office was put to the test last week as its roughly 12,000 workers returned Monday through Friday for the first time since the work-from-home movement swept the nation five years ago, at the start of the pandemic.

Whether the bank passed that test depends on whom you ask.

On Monday, April 21, an executive at the firm's sprawling Columbus, Ohio, campus, projected optimism about employees' first full week back in the office while acknowledging some pain points.

"Ample seats were available across the site," a memo from Becky Griffin, the location leader at the Columbus campus, said. "We did notice that some areas were busier than others," she added, "and we're continuing to monitor capacity to make sure everyone can easily find a seat."

Griffin said lines for the cafeteria at the campus, known as Polaris, were "longer than usual," but that they "moved efficiently, with a smooth checkout process."

She also addressed concerns about parking. "To make the parking process more efficient, we have already adjusted the shuttle service and provided updated instructions to our on-site parking attendees," she wrote in the memo, which workers received as they were wrapping up their first full day in the office together.

Employees who spoke to BI complained that some of these issues persisted as the week went on, leaving some workers jockeying for desks, hunting for alternative parking, and skipping lunch to avoid long lines. In a second memo sent on Friday, Griffin said the company would be "making ongoing adjustments" and offered a link to an email for employees to provide feedback. She added that the bank had established a "Polaris Commuting Resources" page on its internal system to keep employees updated on changes.

JPMorgan workers at Polaris who spoke to BI, however, said they couldn't see easy solutions to some of the problems discussed in the memo because the campus — which houses some 12,000-plus employees — has limited parking and a total seating capacity of 11,930, according to internal documents about the property reviewed by BI.

"There's really not a lot of space left on the property," said one software engineer at Polaris. "They'd have to make some serious changes for the site to be able to hold all the cars that come there every day."

The engineer was one of three employees who spoke to BI about working at the Columbus facility, which is home to many of the bank's tech workers and key to several of its cloud-focused initiatives. These employees asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to discuss company matters.

"There's not really infrastructure in place to handle the number of people that are working there now," the software engineer continued, adding: "It's definitely put everybody in kind of a tough spot."

Griffin did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement to BI, Michael Fusco, a JPMorgan spokesperson, pointed to measures the bank has taken over the past week to smooth out the transition.

"We have been working hard to ensure our sites have the capacity and amenities employees need to return full-time," Fusco said. "Last week, we had more than 2,000 open seats available daily in Polaris, ensuring ample seating to accommodate all employees. We also increased the number of parking attendants and shuttles to improve the parking process."

Life at Polaris in a post-RTO world

In January, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon called his workers back to the office five days a week starting in March. The return was delayed for some office locations to give them time to get ready. The firm's Polaris campus only switched to the five-day-a-week RTO model last week.

JPMorgan isn't alone in demanding workers to return to pre-pandemic norms. Employees at Goldman Sachs and Citadel were called back to the office five days a week in 2021. Tech giants like Amazon and TikTok have also ordered workers back to their desks Monday through Friday.

Some Polaris employees have pushed back, however, including by exploring unionizing, as BI has previously reported. Dimon defended his decision in an internal town hall at the Columbus campus in February, saying the mandate was issued with the bank and its clients in mind, not individual preferences.

JPMorgan has addressed the insufficient parking at Polaris by reserving additional spaces at a local church about a mile away. Once parked, workers can wait for a shuttle that will take them to and from the campus, about a 10-minute ride. Employees, however, described 30-minute waits to board the buses in some cases.

One back-office manager told BI that on-campus parking has also become strained. The employee said the site's central buildings are encircled by a road dotted with two-story parking garages, and the road has been logjammed.

"From the moment you hit that ring, you're sitting in traffic to get around the campus," said the manager, who added they had recently spent an hour and 15 minutes looking for a parking spot.

It's led some employees to search for workarounds — like finding parking at Polaris Fashion Place, a nearby mall, and ordering Uber transportation to the office, the second of the two engineers said.

This strategy hasn't proved a major time saver, however, this engineer added, citing the backlog of vehicles clogging the campus road in the morning. The manager described large orange construction signs punctuating the road and third-party traffic attendants to direct the flow of vehicles.

He questioned whether these measures were helpful, saying that, in his experience, traffic attendants "just wave you past closed lots. They don't tell you where to go."

'They can cheat the system'

Once inside, the employees said there's some jockeying for desks, mainly for people who don't have assigned seating and don't reserve a spot ahead of time through the company's booking portal.

"I actually have a close friend who had to move desks probably five times over the span of an hour," said the first software engineer.

It's not just individuals who are being Tetris'd around the office in an effort to have teams sit together. The back-office manager said their team's designated seating was moved earlier in April, and that they'll need to be relocated again in the coming days.

"Everyone is still fed up, and everyone is still scratching their heads as to why we're doing this," the manager said.

Both software engineers said some intrepid workers had discovered they could swipe into the office and then leave a few hours later if they wanted to go home early.

"They can cheat the system like that," said the first engineer. "Some people will just badge in, work for an hour or two, and leave."

Employees also questioned whether being back in the office is really fostering teamwork if it means some colleagues can't sit together.

"One of our guys" — an executive director on a particular team — "is sitting in a completely different wing, because we have no room left," the second engineer said. "Tell me how collaboration is a driving force when your teams are now scattered throughout the building instead of sitting in one area."

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• PwC has been tracking its employees' office attendance for three months.
• The firm's HR boss said three days in the office is best for employee engagement.
• PwC's internal data also showed that working in the office boosted productivity, she said.

The Big Four firm PwC has been collecting data for three months on its latest RTO mandate, and the results are in — three days in the office is the sweet spot for employee engagement.

In January, PwC increased its weekly in-office requirement for its 23,000 UK employees to a minimum of three days. The accounting firm had previously asked staff to come into the office two or three days a week.

Since the new policy began, PwC has been monitoring employees' attendance through their badge swipes into the office and shared IP addresses, if staff are out at client sites, Phillippa O'Connor, PwC's UK chief people officer, told a UK government committee on home-based working.

Staff can use a self-declaration form to highlight whether there's a valid reason they can't come into the office, which will be reflected in the data.

After the first quarter of monitoring employees, O'Connor said there was "a really clear correlation between time in the office and the utilization of our people."

PwC also cross-referenced the attendance data with preliminary data from its annual employee engagement survey and found that those coming in three days a week were the most engaged.

"The initial data there shows us that where we have people in the office three days a week, they are more engaged," she said. "Where they're in the office five days a week, they're less engaged."

The accounting giant believes that in-person work for the majority of the week is best for its business and clients and for driving innovation, O'Connor said.

It's also "absolutely critical" for training the 1,000 graduates who join the firm's UK branch every year, she added.

O'Connor told the government committee that this was "not a one policy." PwC is in "listening mode," and providing flexibility and exemptions, particularly for parents and neurodivergent employees, is key to the firm's approach, she said.

Lindsay Pattison, the chief people officer of the advertising giant WPP, also gave evidence to the committee, which was set up to consider the effects and development of home-based working in the UK.

WPP has asked employees to return to the office four days a week, including two Fridays a month. After the policy was introduced, thousands signed a petition calling on the firm to rethink its four-day RTO mandate.

Pattison said that WPP was monitoring general email traffic and employees' use of AI tools and that both measures started to decline on Fridays when staff worked from home.

PwC declined to comment.

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• Office romances still happen despite a shift toward hybrid and remote work.
• They now rely on digital communication, with less time to work out in-person chemistry.
• This means people have to be more bold and deliberate about pursuing a colleague they like.

Falling in love at work has changed.

Those who study relationships have long been confident about the factors that cause people to fall in love with colleagues. It's largely because of proximity, but also because working toward a common goal is a bonding experience.

Now, at companies where hybrid work is commonplace, teammates meet more sporadically. They certainly don't rack up almost 1,700 hours a year or more in the office together like they used to.

Channa Bromley, a relationship coach who specializes in helping high-achieving men and women, told BI the shift to remote and hybrid work "has completely changed" the way office romances unfold.

"The pandemic didn't kill workplace romance — it just changed the battlefield," Bromley told BI. If anything, the disruption with remote and hybrid work has only "made workplace relationships more intentional," she said.

Proximity bred familiarity in a traditional office setting, but now, without the casual watercooler chats or the slow burn of in-person camaraderie, connections at work require deliberate effort, Bromley said: "People aren't just falling into relationships because they spend eight hours a day together."

Manufactured serendipity

Bromley said the biggest shift is that office relationships no longer happen by accident. Now, they require strategy, with people having to "manufacture serendipity."

Before the pandemic, a marketing executive who was one of Bromley's clients fell for a coworker "over months of casual interactions."

"There was no single moment where it clicked," she said. "It was the accumulation of small, familiar ones. By the time they got together, there was already an unshakable foundation."

In 2025, the dynamic of finding love is different. Another of Bromley's clients, an engineer, barely knew a woman on his team beyond Slack messages and the occasional Zoom call, but he knew he was attracted to her.

Bromley said the relationship was then "built with intention," with her client finding ways to see the woman beyond work tasks, such as flirty Slack messages, virtual coworking sessions, and "lingering on video calls."

"When they finally met in person, it wasn't about discovering attraction," Bromley said. "It was about testing whether the connection they built in controlled, digital spaces could survive in the real world."

A double-edged sword

Jenn Gunsaullus, a sociologist, relationship expert, and corporate speaker, told BI that remote work is a double-edged sword when it comes to office relationships. On the one hand, there are fewer risks once a relationship develops, with less opportunity for scrutiny, less office gossip, and "no awkward run-ins if things don't work out."

"But on the other hand, it also makes it harder to read chemistry in real time," which can prevent relationships from forming in the first place, Gunsaullus said.

"You don't get to pick up on body language, shared eye contact, or that natural energy that can build when two people are around each other every day."

Stealth mode

The fundamental rules of attraction haven't changed. Shared goals, high-pressure environments, and the psychology of teamwork still create bonds.

Angelika Koch, a relationship and breakup expert at the dating app Taimi, told BI that during the pandemic, people became accustomed to communicating more through their phones and less in person.

"This distance allows more flexibility when it comes to conversations," she said. "And subtle flirtations through texts are more likely to begin with those who feel that spark."

Lucy Finter, an account and social media manager at Press Box PR, met her boyfriend at work 18 months ago, while they were both in the office part of the time.

At the beginning of their relationship, Finter said she was excited about the three days they would be in the office together, getting to go on "mini dates" in the day between their official ones.

Bromley said people have to be bolder now to pursue an office relationship. They must pick up on signals when they meet in person and rely on messages and emails in the interim.

"The intensity hasn't disappeared," she added. "It's just gone underground, where it simmers in private messages and well-timed emojis."

Workplace romance isn't dead, Bromley added: "It's just operating in stealth mode."

• Honda on Wednesday issued a return-to-office order for its US-based staff.
• The internal memo says that employees must work in the office at least 80% of the time by October 6.
• The automaker joins a list of major companies, including JPMorgan and Amazon, issuing RTO orders.

Honda on Wednesday issued a return-to-office order for its US-based staff, according to an internal memo viewed by Business Insider.

"As Honda faces a rapidly changing business environment and increasingly competitive market conditions, we believe it is essential for associates to return to working primarily at on-site offices. Therefore, effective October 6, 2025, Honda is requiring associates to work on-site at least 80% of their work week," the memo reads.

The memo says spontaneous interactions between staff members are "critical" to driving innovation at the company, and working on-site will promote essential in-person collaboration and problem solving. It was signed by Kazuhiro Takizawa, the president and CEO of American Honda Motors Co., and Kensuke Oe, the president of Honda Development & Manufacturing of America.

"This information is being shared with associates today to provide the longest timeline possible to begin to prepare for this transition," the memo continues. "Simultaneously, Honda is evaluation how this change will impact facilities, including cafeterias and common spaces, as well as studying other workstyle-related items to ease the transition and prepare sites for associates to be able to start reporting to the office as early as July 7, 2025."

Honda employs 30,000 associates in the US, with manufacturing plants throughout the country, including Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, according to its public employment statistics. Seventy-five percent of those employees work in manufacturing, and 24% in sales, research and development, and finance. It is unclear exactly how many Honda employees are remote workers.

"We understand that workstyle change is difficult, and associates will likely have many questions now and in the coming months," the memo reads. "But, we believe this will make Honda an even stronger and more competitive company for the future."

When reached by Business Insider, a spokesperson for Honda confirmed the RTO order and its October 6 deadline.

"Beginning October 6, Honda will return to a majority onsite work style requiring our associates to work on-site 80% of the time," the spokesperson said. "This decision is driven by the rapidly changing business environment, which requires increased collaboration and innovation that we believe can best be achieved through in-person teamwork. Our work policy will continue to provide flexibility for our associates to work remotely up to 20% of the time."

With its Wednesday memo, Honda joins a list of major companies, including JPMorgan and Amazon, that have issued RTO orders.

Read the full memo below:

This email is intended for US associates at American Honda, American Honda Finance Corp., American Honda Foundation, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, and Honda Racing Corp. USA.

As Honda faces a rapidly changing business environment and increasingly competitive market conditions, we believe it is essential for associates to return to working primarily at on-site offices. Therefore, effective October 6, 2025, Honda is requiring associates to work on-site at least 80% of their work week

Increasing opportunities for spontaneous interaction and Y-Gaya style discussions is needed to drive innovation, strengthen our Challenging Spirit and maintain a customer-centric focus. This is critical to Honda's Second Founding.

Additionally, in keeping with the Honda PHilosophy, working primarily on-site increases the likelihood of associates going "to the spot" to understand the real situation and address key problems by collaborating with teams, peers and leaders.

This information is being shared with associates today to provide the longest timeline possible to begin to prepare for this transition. Simultaneously, Honda is evaluation how this change will impact facilities, including cafeterias and common spaces, as well as studying other workstyle-related items to ease the transition and prepare sites for associates to be able to start reporting to the office as early as July 7, 2025.

We understand that workstyle change is difficult, and associates will likely have many questions now and in the coming months. But, we believe this will make Honda an even stronger and more competitive company for the future. We are committed to continuing communication, and you will see additional updates to support your team with this transition. If you have questions, please contact a member of your leadership team or local HR business partner.

Thank you for your support.

Kazuhiro Takizawa

President & CEO, American Honda Motor Co., Inc

Chief Officer, North America Regional Operations

Kensuke Oe

President, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America

• Lee Ann Million has been an executive assistant at Amazon since 2011 and has worked remotely for nine years.
• Due to Amazon's return-to-office policy, Million has been told that her last day is April 30.
• She said she isn't leaving voluntarily and feels like she's being fired despite excellent performance.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lee Ann Million, a 64-year-old executive assistant at Amazon of nearly 14 years who lives in northern Michigan. Business Insider has verified Million's employment history. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I've been an executive assistant at Amazon since 2011. In June, I would've celebrated my 14th year.

My role is to get the leaders I work for where they need to be — a meeting, a country, whatever — as quickly and as efficiently as I can. I handle their calendars, manage their projects, track their goals, and wrangle their teams. The relationship between an EA and the leader they work for is one of the most critical to how an organization operates.

I worked in virtual roles for seven years before the RTO push started in February 2023, so my manager at the time and I didn't think the mandate would have any impact on me.

Instead, after receiving two remote work exceptions, April 30 will be my last day at Amazon.

I'm not leaving voluntarily; as far as I'm concerned, they're firing me. I'm a good employee. My performance review this year said I significantly exceeded expectations. I've given the company 100% of myself for 14 years; to have to leave is demoralizing and perplexing.

I loved working at Amazon — then RTO happened

I love how you can reinvent yourself at Amazon. I've had the chance to have a bunch of different careers and get exposure to many different teams. When I started, I worked out of Seattle HQ for five years on the Kindle Fire launch team. In my first three months, it felt like all I did was run around — it was a great, electric time to be at Amazon.

In 2016, my oldest daughter became ill, and I needed to move to Indiana to be closer to family. Soon after that, I was able to start working virtually and was successful at doing so.

When three-day RTO was announced in February 2023, I found a house in Michigan and had to submit a change of address request. My request was rejected immediately because of RTO, and my HR rep instructed me to complete a remote work exception form.

My manager, who's also a virtual employee, and I went back and forth with HR to explain that I was already a virtual employee, but we still filled out the form.

I offered to work out of the Chicago office to stay on my team, since I have family there, but I was only given the option to move to Seattle or Washington, D.C., which wasn't feasible for me.

In November 2023, my change of address request was approved by the VP of my organization — with the caveat that I retire in August 2024.

It felt completely out of the blue. I was like, "Who said anything about retiring?" Retire is a very ageist word. After several more conversations with HR in July 2024 — a month before I was supposed to leave — they ended up extending my remote work exception until April 30 of this year.

When I realized the end was coming, I thought they could at least bridge the gap

I kept thinking somebody would change things. I've even tried to find other virtual roles within Amazon. There was one role that felt like it was made for me: It was fully virtual, and they were looking for someone with a lot of soft skills and relationship-building strengths, which I've been recognized for in the past. I had several informational chats, but then they went dark on me.

Earlier this year, I realized, Oh my God, I'm a few months away and no one's intervening on my behalf.

I thought that maybe Amazon could at least bridge the 11-month gap until I turn 65 next year and become eligible for Medicare.

In my view, it'd be like a severance package, allowing me to delay taking my Social Security and maintain my insurance without having to pay for COBRA. I also have 38 shares of stock that vest in May and 37 shares that vest in November.

In February, I tried emailing an Amazon HR executive to ask about bridging the gap. It's not unusual for Amazon employees to reach out to leaders directly.

I was hurt and disappointed that she never replied to my email, though another HR staff member reached out and extended my termination date to June 1. The last day I'll work will still be April 30, giving me an additional month of salary, two months of insurance, and my 38 shares of stock that vest in May.

My adult daughter is disabled, and Amazon has kept her on my insurance past the age of 26, which I'm forever grateful for. Losing my insurance in two months is what scares me more than anything.

Amazon has been very good to me. But I just find it cold-hearted, in the grand scheme of things, for them not to bridge the 11-month gap for someone who's been there for 14 years, to get me to Medicare and give my daughter a little more time. I also won't get my 37 shares that would vest in November.

I'll have to accept a permanent reduction in my monthly Social Security payment since I'm taking it out earlier than planned. I'm waiting on my final estimate from the Social Security Administration, but as of today, it looks like it'll be almost $600 less than if I worked until I was 67.

Amazon didn't used to be this cold; something has changed. There are so many good things about Amazon, and it's sad that this is how it's playing out.

Retirement wasn't on my radar

I've always worked and supported my three daughters as a single mom, and I still help them. When my income stops, then my ability to help them — especially my disabled daughter — stops too. As long as I could work virtually, my plan was to keep going; retirement really wasn't on my radar.

I'm fortunate that I love what I do. I just wish I could keep doing it. You can love your company and not the decisions that are being made; that's kind of how I feel.

Sticking my head in the sand isn't a plan, so I've got to figure something out. I think my age is absolutely going to play a factor — I'm a 14-year high-performing employee and can't even get Amazon to hire me into another role. So I'm not optimistic about finding a role like this one externally.

More than anything, I need to nurture myself a little bit. I'm healthy and can work. If I need to go work at the grocery store or at McDonald's or something, that's fine. I'll figure it out.

A spokesperson for Amazon said in a statement: "Ms. Million's alleged experience doesn't represent the experiences of the vast majority of employees at the company. And while we don't normally share details about an individual's situation, because Ms. Million's account lacks important details and context, we're compelled to share some facts to ensure the record is accurate. We informed Ms. Million in 2023 that we'd be asking her to relocate and join her colleagues in working from the office, and we worked with her directly to address her specific requests over the years — including extending her virtual location exception on three separate occasions. We continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant, and when in-person accommodations are needed, we provide them."

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• I was unhappy in my corporate job, so when we went remote, I started freelancing on the side.
• My initial gigs didn't give me a byline and paid a measly $.01 a word, but I was too happy to care.
• I kept at it and never gave up. Eventually, I quit my corporate job.

I was following the conventional road to success — finishing college, getting my MBA, and joining a tech firm — but after four years in the same job, I felt trapped.

I live and work in India. When the pandemic hit in 2020, our office went fully remote and for the first time, I felt some sense of freedom.

So I stayed at the job for three more years, but everything changed when they called us back to the office.

I was freelancing long before I quit my full-time job

Working from home was better than working in the office, but I was still unhappy, so I decided to give freelance writing a shot as a side hustle.

The early ghostwriting projects I scored from Facebook groups paid a measly $0.01 a word, but I was enjoying my new side hustle too much to care.

Gradually, after about six months, I secured technical writing gigs that paid up to $0.10 cents a word — a big jump.

I finally got my first-ever byline in early 2021 at a gaming publication, where I earned about $18 an article.

Those clips helped me get my first big break in mid-2021, when I became a regular contributor to a "how-to" tech website where I was paid $100 an article, on average.

The RTO mandate brought me to a crossroads

By 2023, I was accustomed to a remote lifestyle and had even changed cities to move in with my partner.

So, when I heard murmurings about the RTO mandate, quitting my job became more than just wishful thinking.

It sounded cool in my head, but walking away from a substantial paycheck — compared to what I was making as a freelancer — wasn't easy.

When the RTO mandate became official, though, I took a leap of faith and quit in January 2023. It helped that I had a partner with a well-paying job who could help with finances.

By mid-2023, I had procured another steady client at a large tech publication, as a PC hardware writer.

Thanks to that, I hit my first major milestone at the end of 2023 — earning around $2,000 a month, roughly twice as much as I'd earned from my corporate job.

Freelancing full time gave me the mental space I never knew I was missing

The flexibility of being a freelancer meant I was working around 25 hours a week instead of 40.

I loved starting the morning at my own pace and having my daily coffee in peace before working on the day's articles.

I was also spending more time with my partner, enjoying sports and PC gaming, and going on international trips with family.

It took a year of freelancing full-time to feel settled

Everything fell into place in the first half of 2024, about a year after I started freelancing full time.

I'd increased my output at my two main clients and had boosted my earnings to $3,000 a month.

Around mid-2024, however, I suffered a major blow. I was let go from one of my main clients. I still had the other gig, though, and the blow turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

With that extra time, I began writing more for the larger tech website. By the end of 2024, I was making an average of $5,000 a month.

I should have quit my corporate job sooner

If my unusual career path has taught me anything, it's that I shouldn't have waited years to combine two of my biggest passions — writing and technology.

Sometimes, you don't know what you truly want until a life-changing event opens your eyes to it.

I guess what I was missing the most in my corporate job was not the money, but the freedom.

I will never go back to the office, even in a hybrid role — I cherish my current lifestyle too much to even consider it.

• We all know burnout, but you may have "boreout" — being uninspired and detached from work.
• A Wharton psychologist has said it was on the rise as hybrid work reduced in-person interaction.
• This is what managers and employees can do about it.

Every employee knows what it is to be burned out. But do you know if you have "boreout"?

The term describes feeling purposeless and disengaged because of a lack of meaning at work. It was coined by two Swiss business consultants in a book in the late 2000s, but it may be having its moment.

The Wharton psychologist Adam Grant told CNBC last month that "boreout" was on the rise thanks to remote work. That comes after Gallup warned in January that a combination of a bad job market and rising cost of living meant American workers were "sticking with their current employer while feeling more disconnected than ever."

Kelli Thompson, an executive coach and the author of "Closing the Confidence Gap," didn't know the term boreout when she was feeling "itchy" after 11 years in her banking job.

"I love this company. This is great. All my coworkers are great, but I just feel like I'm going through the motions," Thompson recalled thinking in an interview with Business Insider. "Ultimately, you just start to feel disengaged."

Boreout isn't necessarily anything to do with the company or the people you work with, Thompson added. You may just be "bored because you've mastered whatever it is you're doing," she said.

After her own bout of boreout, Thompson started running her own business and coaches people who are experiencing it.

Boreout can arise when people fear leaving a job in an employers' market.

But Thompson said she encouraged people not to think that quitting a job they were disconnected from was the only solution.

"Actually, it's like 'no, I can be grateful that I have a job and also advocate to my employer that we should be making sure that we are aligned in our work,'" she said.

Kacy Fleming is an organizational psychologist and founder of The Fuchsia Tent, a private membership group for professional midlife women. She told BI that while boreout isn't discussed as much as burnout, she believed it was more common.

Fleming said boreout can happen for various reasons. Sometimes, people tire of their days being the same when they have tasks that impose a rigid routine. Other times, people become more senior and are given responsibilities that don't interest them, she added.

Office v home

Fleming said burnout and boredom can occur when someone's work life is suddenly taken over by tasks that overshadow the reasons they got into a profession in the first place, such as spreadsheets over creative pursuits.

Whether you're working in the office or at home is also a factor.

Fleming said flexibility and autonomy in working arrangements were important for productivity, and removing them could be detrimental, especially if leaders don't clearly explain the reasoning.

"It's a symptom of employees being given what they wanted briefly and then having it taken away," she said, adding that the reasons for RTO mandates should be more than "because I said so."

Incentives to come to the office, like free lunches, aren't enough, Fleming said. "If we're not taking care of the needs that really underpin people's feelings of safety and significance, Taco Tuesday is a slap in the face," she said.

But Lisa Walker, a Chicago-based strategic business executive who leads DHR's global industrial practice, told BI that the kind of communication the office facilitates can help identify boreout.

When five days in the office was more common, workers garnered a lot from informal conversations there, but remote work makes it harder to recognize when someone isn't as responsive or detect shifts in their tone, she said.

Walker said that if someone who is usually open about bringing up any issues suddenly becomes silent, that could be a sign they've checked out. The same applies if those who've been eager to be part of new projects become withdrawn, she added.

Walker said managers of remote or hybrid workers should ask themselves, "Have you created that informal social network? And if so, when was the last time you talked to them? Are we creating those social networking bonds through real, face-to-face interactions, not just text?"

'1% closer'

Thompson said that the people she works with who suffer from boreout are often risk-averse, or those who advocate for other people, but not themselves.

She said she encouraged them to think about what they want their work life to look like a year from now, and how they can move "1% closer" to the big change they want in it. "I think sometimes where they get caught up is they think they have to make this big sweeping change overnight."

When Thompson quit her banking job after 11 years, she took a pay cut to become the HR lead for a tech company. She said the move instantly felt right, even on the hard days.

"It just felt so easy," she said. The challenges were "worth it because I'm actually doing work that I think is fun and enjoyable and exciting."

Thompson added that the opposite of boreout isn't never having a bad day: "It just means that the harder days are more tolerable."

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• Kim Nutter practices marital and family law.
• She explains how return to office orders can impact child support and custody.
• Parents should try to work out changes in mediation, not court, she says.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kim Nutter, partner Brinkley Morgan. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Across the country people are being asked to return to the office — even at the law office I work at. It's causing chaos for people who have become used to working at home during the pandemic. Returning to the office can be especially disruptive to parents — including those who have built custody agreements around working from home.

Here's what divorced or never-married co-parents should know about adjusting their schedules and finding a new norm for their family.

Childcare costs impact child support

If you share custody, child support is a shared expense. That means if one parent suddenly needs more paid childcare, there might be adjustments to child support orders. Now, this doesn't mean that you can hire an au pair or nanny and expect your co-parent to pay half. The court usually makes a judgment based on the cost of average childcare in your area — so it's helpful to get quotes from daycares, after-school programs, etc.

Anytime money gets involved, people start to get prickly, which can get in the way of working together to make the best decision for your children. Remember you're not just "giving" this money to your co-parent — you're spending it on your child.

Start slowly with schedule changes

When one parent needs to return to the office, but the other has a more flexible schedule, it can be tempting for that parent to help more with childcare. For example, Dad picks up the kids from school, even on the weeks they're scheduled to be at Mom's. This often makes sense to co-parents who have a good working relationship since it can save money on childcare.

And yet, it can be too much for the child. Sometimes, we ask kids of divorce to pack that proverbial backpack too often. It's a lot to wake up at Mom's, get picked up by Dad, then go back to Mom's to sleep. If you want to try this, start very slowly — with the parent doing pick-up one or two days a week. After a few weeks, check in with your co-parent and see if they've noticed any changes or pushback from your child.

Start with mediation, not court

Courts hate being used for every small decision. Plus, it's costly and time-consuming. Instead of running to courts and lawyers, turn to mediation first. This can mean either working with an attorney who is also a mediator or a family therapist who's a mediator.

If you have a high-conflict relationship with your co-parent, I recommend booking two mediation sessions a week apart. Then, gather your evidence — like estimates for the increased cost of childcare — to help the sessions stay productive and efficient.

Use the spring to plan for the next school year

School schedules for the following year are usually released around April. That makes the spring the perfect time to sit down with your co-parent and hash out the schedule for the next year. If you need special accommodations — like an extra day with the kids when your mother visits — mark that on the calendar now.

There are always surprises in life, but with good planning (and, perhaps, the help of a mediator), you can plan ahead for most of them.

Try to prepare for all scenarios

With kids and families, change is constant. It's normal to have to revisit parenting plans — even those that weren't crafted during a pandemic. After all, when your 9-year-old eventually gets their license, everything is going to change — and that will happen a lot sooner than you think.

Don't just think about the ideal scenario or the next year or two. Consider what happens five or 10 years down the road when someone moves or remarries. If you can agree about how you'll respond to major life changes before they happen, you'll have a framework for moving through them without too much conflict, expense, or court involvement.

• Ad giant WPP offers free Friday lunches as a perk for staff as some express discontent at its RTO policy.
• The policy requires employees to work in-office four days per week, including two Fridays per month.
• WPP said the free lunches are not connected to an employee petition protesting the RTO policy.

Advertising giant WPP hopes to sweeten the deal on in-office work by promising free lunch on Fridays as it fights employee discontent over its RTO policy.

A WPP spokesperson told Business Insider complimentary lunches on Fridays were introduced at the company's UK-based campuses this month.

On Saturday, The Times reported that the free lunch at WPP's South Bank office in London offered beef ragù, garlic bread, and a spring salad.

The spokesperson told BI it was one of several perks being offered to help foster an appealing work environment for employees coming into the office. They did not confirm whether the free lunches would be permanent.

The initiative comes soon after over 20,000 people signed a petition expressing unhappiness at WPP's recent RTO mandate.

WPP's new rules have been controversial among employees, who were told by chief executive Mark Read that they now have to come into the office four times a week and commit to coming in two Fridays a month.

The memo, obtained by BI in January, was sent to 114,000 employees.

Read said that in-office attendance was associated with "stronger employee engagement, improved client survey scores, and better financial performance."

"I believe that we do our best work when we are together in person," he wrote. "It's easier to learn from each other, it's a better way to mentor colleagues starting out in the industry, and it helps us win pitches as a truly integrated team."

The petition, in contrast, described the policy as a "step backwards in supporting employee wellbeing and work-life balance."

"The mental and social effects on employees due to such rigid work regimes can be extensive," it said.

"Therefore, we call on Mark Read and the decision-making body at WPP to reconsider this mandate and adopt a policy that respects and prioritises the well-being and preferences of its employees."

Some staffers' complaints added in comments include the additional hours of traveling per day and the added expenses of commuting to and from the office.

WPP's spokesperson told BI the free lunch initiative was planned independently of the petition.

Employees have had mixed responses to RTO policies. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently told all corporate employees they had to be in the office five days a week. Goldman Sachs, Salesforce, and JPMorgan have followed suit.

While critics say the strict policies can erode trust and cause friction between management and staff, others have a more positive view. Gen Z, for example, may strongly benefit from being physically in the office, workplace experts previously told BI.

Benefits can include enhanced teamwork and more chances for mentoring and career development, Anita Williams Woolley, a professor of organizational behavior at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, said.

However, according to one 2024 survey, around three-quarters of Gen Z and about 50% of other generations said that hybrid working is their ideal setup. Experts have previously told BI more autonomy and flexibility can help to abate burnout and foster a better work-life balance.

• Return-to-office mandates have been on a lot of people's minds.
• It turns out RTO has also gotten major fashion houses' attention.
• Brands like Prada and Stella McCartney have recently taken inspiration from workwear, as has budget-friendly Uniqlo.

RTO is popping up in another medium: fashion.

Fashion houses are tapping into the discourse and trend as return-to-office continues to be one of the much-debated workplace discussions following the pandemic.

"The pendulum is now swinging the other way; I feel like this is the fashion houses' way of saying the power suit is back, dressing for work is back," Beckie Klein of image consultancy Beckie + Martina told Business Insider. "It's their way of saying polish is back."

Brands like Prada and Stella McCartney are among those that have taken cues from the office in recent collections and campaigns.

"The back-to-office mandate has clearly reached designers worldwide, and they're responding with collections that transform cubicle life into something actually worth dressing for," said stylist and market editor DeVanté Rollins. "Designers are making returning to the office way more fun than we ever expected."

Brands are riffing on RTO and officewear with their own "playful takes on corporate life, with exaggerated proportions in blazers and blouses," Rollins added.

Prada's fall/winter 2024 ad campaign, aptly titled "Now That We're Here," featured an ensemble cast of actors in workwear huddled around having conversations or talking over a corded phone.

"Bringing people together, to commune is to create," it says. That feels like a pretty clear echo of many bosses' stated reasoning for RTO: We work better together.

Stella McCartney's winter 2025 womenswear collection includes tailored jackets, power shoulders, straight trousers, and pencil skirts. The looks represent "an exchange of professional and party codes," the brand says, for a woman who is "an entrepreneur" and "the boss."

At the brand's show in Paris last month, guests got to see "Stella Corp," replete with office chairs, desks, and branded swag. Did we mention the collection is called "Laptop to Lapdance?"

Ferrari's inspiration for its fall/winter 2025 looks is the "Officina," it says. Though that might not neatly translate to the corporate office setting — the brand says it encompasses "an artisanal workshop, a centre for study and a design lab" — the collection certainly looks office-inspired.

It's a good time for fashion houses to be jumping on the RTO bandwagon.

Work and RTO feature particularly prominently in the cultural zeitgeist right now. The trending "clean girl" and minimalist styles share parallels with a lot of officewear, not to mention workwear aesthetics like "office siren" and "corpcore," or corporate core, have been making the rounds on social media for a while now. The season finale of Apple's workplace drama, "Severance," may still be on everyone's minds.

While haute couture pieces aren't going from the catwalk to the conference room, luxury brands like Balenciaga are also putting an emphasis on office-appropriate attire in their ready-to-wear collections.

For the more budget-conscious, Uniqlo Europe showed off a line of workwear outfits in February set against a retro office-inspired office backdrop, with models posing at desks with old desktop computers, sitting atop copy machines, and leaning on water coolers.

The pandemic and its effects on work meant "the lines became so blurred" when it comes to dressing for work, said Martina Gordon of Beckie + Martina.

"It's just very vague at the moment," she told BI. "Everybody's looking for guidance.

The question of what to wear to the office today is a tricky one. Many people returning to the office feel out of practice with dressing for it after working remotely during the pandemic and investing in comfy sweats and styles too casual for a corporate environment.

"There's a huge question out there: What is business dress?" Klein said. "The brands are really stepping up to say, 'This is a big question. We need to be the ones with the answer.'"

After Amazon's five-day return-to-office policy went into effect, many employees were forced to leave the company. We spoke with Jay Gorsica, a former Amazon employee who had to leave because he is a full-time caregiver for his wife.

• COVID-era accommodations are losing ground to more high-pressure work schedules.
• Workplace experts say DOGE has set an example that could impact corporate culture and expectations.
• "A perfect storm" of rising costs and recession fears makes workers more afraid to quit.

If you've noticed an uptick in emails from your boss during weekends, are facing strict return-to-office orders, or are being told to accomplish more with less, economic uncertainty and DOGE could be to blame, according to experts in workplace management.

"I think that the pendulum is swinging toward much less work-life balance and much more constant chronic stress," Dr. Tasha Eurich, organizational psychologist and New York Times bestselling author, told Business Insider.

Eurich said increased chaos in the markets is making it much more difficult not only to get by but also to find a way to thrive at work and in life.

"We know that uncertainty is one of the most aversive states for human beings — it sets off the same parts of our brain as would happen when we are being chased by a tiger when our ancestors were trying to stay alive together," said Eurich.

Eurich pointed to data from the World Uncertainty Index — which tracks worldwide political events — showing that levels of uncertainty about geopolitics and economic situations have been steadily climbing back to early pandemic levels over the past six months.

While ongoing conflicts may have contributed to the level of concern, many workplace experts say that in the US, economic uncertainty and the rise of DOGE could also contribute to feelings of uncertainty, especially since the beginning of 2025, which may cause more to hold on to their desks and accept less desirable conditions.

The DOGE effect

With Elon Musk, Tesla's billionaire CEO, as its face, DOGE brought his controversial "hardcore" management style to the government.

This year, DOGE fired tens of thousands of federal workers via email, citing poor performance. Meta has also been using the same tactic for "low-performers."

In February, DOGE sent a weekend email demanding federal employees justify their jobs with an email detailing five accomplishments by Monday night. Musk then said on social media that non-respondents were considered resigned.

This week, DOGE also used Tesla's badge-scan layoff tactic at the Department of Health and Human Services: if badges worked, jobs were safe; if not, employees were out. Many were left in tears.

Musk himself also said that he works 120-hour weeks and expects similar dedication from his employees, particularly from those hired by DOGE. On X, he called working the weekend "a superpower."

Rahaf Harfoush, a digital anthropologist and future of work expert, told BI that figures like Musk create a dangerous cultural script and embody the myth that if you just work hard enough, you'll succeed. This myth, she says, conveniently leaves out structural advantages like generational wealth, elite networks, and access to opportunity.

"What's left unsaid is this: billionaires can work those hours because their wealth buys them time," said Harfoush. "They have chefs, nannies, drivers, assistants — an entire infrastructure that handles the responsibilities most people can't outsource."

"Because these leaders are idolized, their behavior sets a tone. It becomes a kind of performative workaholism that companies mimic not because it's effective but because it aligns with our deeply held beliefs about what ambition and success should look like," Harfoush added.

'A perfect storm'

While Musk and DOGE push a version of work driven by ambiguous measures of high performance and includes toiling through the weekends, the job market and economic uncertainty make it harder for unhappy workers to find new opportunities.

Businesses large and small are finding themselves in limbo because of Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs on the US and Canada. Workers are becoming more afraid to quit under the concern that there will be a 2008-esque recession.

"We're seeing a perfect storm of factors colliding," said Harfoush. "We're seeing echoes of 2008 — people taking on more work, fewer breaks, and less pay — because survival feels more urgent than balance."

How workers can regain control

However, a workplace driven by fear and an idealized version of productivity won't necessarily deliver results in the long run. Homa Bahrami, a senior lecturer at the Haas School of Business of UC Berkeley, said that while workers may comply in the short run when CEOs put a virtual "gun to their head," such moves would impact goodwill, commitment, and the emotional engagement of the employee.

"Ultimately, if you're working in a place with core values are exactly the opposite of yours as a human being, then it's not sustainable, and you're not going to make it really work," said Bahrami.

Eurich also echoed this sentiment and called laying off workers to set an example the "most counterproductive thing" a company could do.

There are ways for workers to push back and regain some extent of control.

Bahrami said that though burnout can often not be avoided when conditions are adverse, it helps to have a forward-looking mindset, update skills proactively, and set goals for reaching an ideal job.

Harfoush said that even small acts of resistance could go a long way, starting with delaying that first email check until an hour after waking up, taking real lunch breaks, and, for managers, having explicit conversations with their team about response expectations.

"Often, the pressure to be always-on isn't real — it's imagined," said Harfoush. "But it becomes real when no one challenges it."