Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office. Read the memo.

"Microsoft is mandating employees work from offices at least three days a week, according to an internal email the company sent to staff on Tuesday. The mandate will happen in three phases beginning on February 23, 2026 with Seattle-area employees who live within 50 miles of a Microsoft office. It will then expand to other US offices and eventually internationally, according to the email from Microsoft HR chief Amy Coleman."

"Employees can request an exception by September 19. Coleman's email didn't include details about how such exceptions may work. Business Insider reported in August that Microsoft was considering a stricter RTO policy mandating three days a week in the office. Microsoft sells software that enables remote work, such as its popular Teams workplace chat and meeting app. It remained relatively lax compared to some other Big Tech companies when it comes to RTO, especially cross-town rival Amazon."

"Microsoft first introduced a flexible work policy when it brought employees back to the office in late 2020 after pandemic-forced closures. That policy officially allowed employees to work from home at least half of the time without approval, but in practice it was even more flexible and most employees worked remotely most of the time. Now its policy is evolving to be similar to guidelines at Meta and Google, which generally require most employees to work in offices three days a week."

Microsoft will mandate employees to work from offices at least three days weekly, starting a phased rollout on February 23, 2026 for Seattle-area staff within 50 miles, then expanding to other US offices and internationally. Employees can request exceptions by September 19, though the company did not provide details on how exceptions will be handled. The new policy replaces an earlier flexible arrangement that allowed significant remote work and moves Microsoft closer to Meta and Google’s three-day-in-office guidelines. The company has increased performance pressure, including thousands of firings and a new performance improvement plan, and removed a blog post that praised remote work retention benefits.

Read at Business Insider