MyNorthwest: Microsoft announces in-office mandate for Puget Sound employees in 2026

This article was originally published by MyNorthwest on Sept. 9, 2025.

By Frank Sumrall

After previously mulling over the idea in the summer, Microsoft has ruled that its employees must work in the office three days per week starting in 2026.

Business Insider reported last month that an announcement from Microsoft would come in September. The Seattle Times confirmed the company mandate Tuesday.

Specifically, workers in the Puget Sound area living within 50 miles of a Microsoft office will only be allowed two weekly remote days by the end of February.

“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,” Microsoft’s chief human resources officer, Amy Coleman, told The Seattle Times.

There’s no specific timeline for implementing this mandate for employees outside the Puget Sound region.

Following other tech companies’ steps

The approach is similar to Amazon’s requirement for employees to return to the office five days a week at the beginning of the year. In 2023, Amazon started requiring its employees to be in the office three days per week.

Seattle’s employee foot traffic downtown has gradually increased since Amazon decided to require employees to be in the office full-time. In June, worker foot traffic downtown was 66% of June 2019’s daily average, according to the Downtown Seattle Association.

Microsoft employs approximately 53,000 people at its Redmond campus, and is the state’s third-largest employer, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. In a report last week, the company announced that it has approximately 228,000 employees worldwide.