September 5, 2025
In spite of some headlines, hybrid working is not in decline in the US
Gallup’s latest research on working patterns among remote-capable employees in the United States suggests that hybrid working is proving far more resilient than some headlines about a wholesale return to the office would imply. The data shows that hybrid work remains the dominant arrangement and has not significantly declined, even as political and organisational pressure grows to increase in-person attendance. The survey finds that just over half of employees who can work remotely are now in hybrid arrangements. This represents a slight decline from the previous two quarters, falling from 55 percent to 51 percent.
At the same time, the proportion of people working fully on-site and those working fully remotely each rose by two percentage points. Taken together, these shifts are modest and do not indicate a wholesale reversal of the widespread adoption of hybrid work that took hold during and after the pandemic. Since 2022, the overall balance between hybrid, remote and office-based working has remained stable, reinforcing the conclusion that hybrid is not a temporary experiment but a lasting structural feature of contemporary employment.
When Gallup examined how much time hybrid workers now spend in the office, the results show a pattern of stability rather than change. Hybrid employees currently report being on-site for 46 percent of the week, equivalent to just over two days. This figure is higher than in 2022, when the average was 42 percent, but the increase occurred during 2023. Over the past year the proportion has flattened, indicating that a new equilibrium has been reached between remote and office attendance.
The overall pattern conceals variations across sectors. In technology, for example, the balance tips more heavily toward full remote work, with nearly half of remote-capable staff working entirely away from the office and a further 45 percent working in hybrid arrangements. Only 9 percent in this sector now work entirely on-site, and these proportions have shifted little over the past three years. By contrast, federal government employees have experienced a dramatic change in working patterns. Following a new mandate in 2025, hybrid work among this group fell from 61 percent to 28 percent, while 46 percent are now fully office-based. This is more than double the national average for on-site work, which currently stands at 21 percent. The government’s intervention demonstrates how political decisions and policy directives can reshape workplace norms, but also highlights that this effect has not translated broadly across the wider economy.
Another aspect of Gallup’s research considers who decides the terms of hybrid schedules. Until recently, more employees had significant autonomy to determine which days they worked remotely. That trend is now weakening. In 2024, 37 percent said their hybrid pattern was entirely self-determined. By 2025 this had declined to 34 percent. The data now shows a roughly even division between three approaches: one third of employees choose their own pattern, one third follow a team-based decision, and one third follow a schedule mandated by their employer.
What’s fair?
Perceptions of fairness vary considerably depending on who sets the schedule. Where teams collectively agree on the working pattern, 91 percent of employees describe the arrangement as fair, which is essentially the same as when individuals determine their own schedules. Where the decision is imposed from above, however, only 73 percent consider it fair. This suggests that team-based negotiation provides a balance between organisational needs and individual flexibility that commands broad acceptance.
Autonomy does not come without difficulties. Gallup reports that employees who determine their own hybrid schedule are also most likely to struggle with burnout and fatigue. More than three-quarters identify exhaustion as their biggest challenge, and these employees are significantly more likely to report problems with work-life balance and with meeting customer expectations. The findings imply that while autonomy is valued, it can also create strains if not balanced with shared expectations and collective planning. The evidence indicates that team-based coordination produces better outcomes than leaving individuals to manage entirely on their own.
The survey also highlights ongoing problems with trust between managers and employees in hybrid environments. Only just over half of managers strongly agree that they trust their remote employees to be productive. Among employees, a similar proportion say they feel trusted by their managers when working away from the office. That leaves a large minority where trust is either absent or uncertain, undermining the effectiveness of flexible arrangements.
Gallup identifies a number of managerial practices that can substantially improve levels of trust. These include ensuring communication is timely and consistent regardless of location, maintaining a strong sense of team identity and belonging, holding employees accountable for performance outcomes when working remotely, and ensuring equal access to feedback, development and advancement opportunities. Where these elements are in place, trust levels rise sharply. Without them, hybrid arrangements can leave employees feeling overlooked and managers questioning productivity.
