The pattern: Office attendance climbing without proportional mandate increases. Friday attendance: 56% (2025) vs <50% (2024). Monday attendance now matches Wednesday 2023 levels.
What’s working: Companies replaced mandates with better incentive design:
- Merit-based signaling - Promote people who exceed minimums. Clear correlation between presence and advancement. No memo needed.
- Better measurement - Mobile location data replaced gameable badge swipes. Accountability improved without policy changes.
- Market clarity - With labor market cooling (700K more unemployed YoY), employees recalibrating on their own.
Source: WSJ, “The Stealth Tactic Bosses Are Using to Get You Back to the Office” (Dec 30, 2025)
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