The 2025 ZipRecruiter Annual Employer Survey

The evolution of remote work took a new turn in 2024, with companies refining their strategies to balance flexibility with structure. ZipRecruiter’s Second Annual Employer Survey reveals that hybrid work has solidified as the dominant model, but stricter in-office requirements and tighter compliance monitoring signal a shift away from the leniency of earlier pandemic years. At the same time, remote hiring is on the rise, driven by the promise of broader talent pools.

Hybrid Work Anchors the Workforce, Fully Remote Declines

Hybrid work remains the most common arrangement, with 40% of companies supporting a mix of in-office and remote work in 2024. Fully remote work, however, saw a sharp decline: only 7% of companies allowed workers in office jobs to be fully remote, compared to 21% in 2023. Similarly, the share of companies granting employees complete choice about working remotely or in-office fell from 18% to 14%.

Conversely, more organizations are requiring structured in-office attendance. The share of companies mandating employees to work in-office at least three days per week rose from 37% in 2023 to 53% in 2024. Full-time, five-day office attendance increased, climbing from 16% to 20%. This shift underscores a growing emphasis on consistency and predictability in how teams operate.

Overall Trends Mask Significant Polarization and Divergence

While some companies are pulling back remote opportunities, others are doubling down. In 2024, 31% of respondents said their companies reduced remote work opportunities, down from 43% in 2023. Meanwhile, 33% said they expanded remote work opportunities, a slight increase from 32% the year prior. These opposing trends indicate that companies are no longer taking a one-size-fits-all approach; instead, they are tailoring policies to their unique organizational needs.

Compliance monitoring has also grown stricter. Among companies with in-office requirements, 72% now monitor attendance, up from 64% in 2023. However, many still offer flexibility: 68% of companies allow employees to choose their in-office days, though this is slightly down from 72% in 2023.

Remote Hiring Expands but Becomes More Strategic

After years of adaptation during the pandemic, companies are increasingly hiring workers who are remote from the outset. The share of organizations actively recruiting remote workers rose from 16% in 2023 to 22% in 2024. By hiring beyond their geographic locations, companies are accessing a wider talent pool, especially in the tech sector, which saw the largest increases in remote recruitment.

This shift however comes with challenges. Employers are increasingly screening for traits associated with remote work success, such as self-motivation, communication skills, and the ability to work independently. These considerations also have pay implications: 12% of companies widened or introduced geographic pay differentials in the past year, while only 8% narrowed or removed them.

Culture and Productivity Concerns Still Shape the Debate

Cultural and productivity concerns remain key reasons why some organizations are pulling back on remote work. Among companies reducing remote opportunities, 59% cited concerns that remote work harms company culture, up from 53% in 2023. Productivity concerns, though still relevant, are diminishing. Among those companies cutting back on remote work, those citing manager perceptions of lower remote productivity fell from 61% to 57%, and those with some direct evidence dropped from 47% to 43%. These trends suggest that while fears about remote work persist, they may be rooted more in perception than data.

RTO Mandates: A Hidden Tool for Workforce Reduction?

The push for return-to-office (RTO) mandates may be more than a cultural or productivity-driven decision—it could also serve as a covert strategy for headcount reduction. Survey data reveals that companies expecting to cut hiring significantly are more likely to impose RTO mandates than to expand remote work opportunities (38% vs. 13%). Conversely, expanding remote work appears correlated with stronger growth: 82% of companies that have broadened remote work opportunities expect to increase hiring, compared to 76% of those scaling it back.

Companies that have imposed RTO mandates report annual turnover rates roughly 13% higher than those that have become more supportive of remote work (169% vs. 149%). They are also more than twice as likely to say that turnover has increased rather than decreased over the past year (51% vs. 24%). The differential is much smaller for companies that have leaned into remote work at (42% vs. 36%).

These findings suggest that RTO policies, while often framed as efforts to boost collaboration or efficiency, might in some cases function as a lever to encourage attrition and reduce workforce size without formal layoffs.

Industries Show Diverging Approaches

Different industries are responding to the evolving landscape of remote work in distinct ways. Surveyed organizations in sectors such as finance (+11 points), aerospace (+13 points), and nonprofits (+13 points) reported more fully remote roles than in 2023, while those in transportation (-10 points) and entertainment (-2 points) were less likely to report allowing remote work. In-office requirements also varied, with manufacturing (-31 points), logistics (-26 points), and construction (-25 points) leading reductions in five-day mandates, while government (+3 points) and utilities (+6 points) increased them.

The Bottom Line: A Workforce in Transition

The 2024 data underscores a labor market in flux. Hybrid work is firmly entrenched, but companies are increasingly prioritizing structure and oversight. Remote hiring is growing, but with it comes new challenges around screening, productivity, and pay equity. The push for flexibility remains strong, but the full-time office workweek is quietly regaining ground in some corners.