TikTok to mandate 5-day office work for US employees from September: Report
TikTok is set to ask its US employees to work from the office five days a week starting in September, tightening its remote-work policy, Business
TikTok is set to ask its US employees to work from the office five days a week starting in September, tightening its remote-work policy, Business Insider citing three TikTok employees said. Some TikTok teams already follow a five-day office schedule. Employees in the company's TikTok Shop e-commerce division, for instance, have been required to work from the office every day for more than a year, the news outlet stated. The new mandate may affect workers currently operating under hybrid arrangements, including employees who are allowed to work from home at least one day a week. Companies across the technology and media sectors are increasingly pushing workers back to their desks.
TikTok's five-day RTO plan TikTok's return-to-office, or RTO, plans have been under consideration for months. In December, the company reportedly told employees in departments including product, marketing and sales to prepare for a full return to the office in 2026. The September requirement will represent a significant change for employees who have become accustomed to hybrid schedules since the pandemic accelerated remote and flexible working arrangements. TikTok has offices in roughly a dozen US cities, including New York, Austin, Los Angeles and Chicago, and employs thousands of people across the country. TikTok joins growing RTO push TikTok's decision follows a broader shift among major technology companies toward requiring employees to spend more time in the office.
Rival companies require many employees to work from the office five days a week, while other companies have retained hybrid arrangements. The return-to-office mandate has divided the technology industry, with some executives arguing that in-person work improves collaboration, productivity and company culture, while others continue to favour flexibility. Spotify has maintained a flexible work policy, while Dropbox has continued with a "virtual-first" approach. Dropbox's new co-CEO Ashraf Alkarmi told Business Insider that he intends to maintain the model, arguing that flexibility and autonomy are increasingly important to employees. How TikTok's US operations are structured TikTok operates in the US through a structure involving its parent company ByteDance. Different parts of TikTok's US operations are managed under different arrangements.
Some functions, including US e-commerce and marketing, are overseen by TikTok's global team within ByteDance. Other operations, including areas focused on data protection and content moderation, are separately managed in the US through the company's joint-venture structure. Broader workplace trend TikTok's decision highlights the continuing shift in workplace policies across the technology sector. While many companies adopted remote or hybrid work during the pandemic, employers have increasingly sought to bring workers back into offices, with some moving from flexible arrangements to mandatory five-day schedules. Also Read | Meta tech lead shares how he went from DJ to coding
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