A return to office for men only?

"Fresh data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal a striking split: "the share of men who spent some time working at home decreased from 34 percent in 2023 to 29 percent in 2024, while the share of women who did so remained the same (36 percent)." The trend is clear - return to office is happening for men, not for women."

"One is optics. Managers still equate physical presence with ambition, and annual performance reviews still tend to reward the employee whose face is most often visible in the conference room. The message may sometimes be unspoken, but it's unmistakable: the corner-office track still runs through the lobby turnstile. Men, socialized to chase visible advancement, often respond to those cues by booking the earliest train and the latest return, ensuring their badges swipe first and last."

Office return trends have diverged by gender, with men reducing time spent working from home while women's remote-work rates remained unchanged. BLS data show men working at home fell from 34 percent in 2023 to 29 percent in 2024, while 36 percent of women continued some remote work. Female labor-force participation rose to 77.7 percent among prime-age women in May 2025, driven partly by mothers who rely on remote options. Corporate policy explains only part of the split; managerial optics, rewards for visible presence, and sectoral pressures push men back to headquarters while many women preserve flexibility to balance caregiving and productivity.

Read at The Hill