Microsoft will require employees to work in the office three days per week next year, a major shift for one of the tech giants that had been more friendly to remote work.

The policy will begin at the end of February for workers living within 50 miles of a Microsoft office in the Puget Sound region, Microsoft's chief human resources officer, Amy Coleman, said Tuesday in an internal memo viewed by The Seattle Times.

The return-to-office edict will eventually roll out to employees in other U.S. offices and those based internationally, but there's no set timeline for those employees yet.

We've looked at how our teams work best, and the data is clear: when people work together in person more often, they thrive — they are more energized, empowered, and they deliver stronger results, Coleman wrote.

Microsoft's policy shift is one of the harder lines the company has taken toward in-person work. Coming out of the pandemic, Microsoft laid out a hybrid work model with expectations of some workers coming in about 50% of the time, depending on the role. The company tracked badge-in data but there was no companywide mandate or enforcement of in-office attendance.

Companies like Seattle-based Amazon and Meta drew up return-to-office policies in 2023, requiring workers to come in three days per week. Amazon ratcheted it up at the beginning of 2025 with a five-day policy.

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