Amazon isn't the only major company cracking down on remote work — the tech giant joins other companies, including Citigroup, Walmart and UPS, in requiring workers to spend more time in offices in recent months.

Even so, the share of people working remotely and hybrid has ticked up in the last year, while those working from an office full-time declined, according to a new report.

Some 27% of workers say they work in a hybrid arrangement, up from 26% in 2023, according to a survey of 2,000 knowledge workers from Owl Labs, the video-conferencing technology maker.

Another 11% say they work fully remotely, up from 7% in the last year, according to the report.

The remaining 62% say they work from a physical office five days a week, down from 66% this time last year.

It's "a surprise" to see remote and hybrid work increase slightly in what's shaping up to be "the year of the mandate," says Frank Weishaupt, CEO of Owl Labs.

But hybrid workers continue to face challenges in what they want versus what their employers require. Most say they prefer to be in-office three days a week (33%) followed by two (20%), but the most common in-office schedules actually require three (41%) or four (32%) days a week.

Employee tracking is on the rise

Companies are also increasing their efforts to track employees' attendance during the week. Nearly half of employees say their employer has added or increased the use of employee tracking software to gather activity data in the past year.

And workers say their employers are stricter about enforcing attendance policies (like being fired for noncompliance) now, compared with 2022, according to data from WFH Research.

However, "the issue with strict attendance policies is that they can become unenforceable," says Jose Maria Barrero, co-founder of WFH Research and assistant professor at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México Business School.

"If employees work from home effectively, and there is no real reason for them to come into the office other than 'it is just the policy,' will managers really punish them?" he says. "Are you willing to piss off a good employee and potentially push them to find a different job if their work is otherwise up to standard?"

Some business leaders may create strict office policies to get people to quit and avoid layoffs, he says, "but I'm skeptical that they would take a hard line if things are working well."

On the employee side, there's been "a severe backlash" to many attendance and tracking efforts, says Deepali Vyas, the global head of fintech, payments and crypto practice at Korn Ferry. "Employees want autonomy and feeling like they're not being micromanaged."

When set up effectively, tracking policies and tools can "enhance transparency and performance," Vyas says. "But I feel like it's a bit invasive. It can actually erode trust, which is something really crucial in any workplace."

In fact, 73% of professionals say employee-tracking initiatives like monitoring badge swipes and computer activity are not necessary or helpful, according to a recent Glassdoor poll of 1,400 users.

However, Weishaupt expects 2025 will see a continuation of more RTO mandates, tracking software and badging enforcement, despite Owl Labs' and other data indicating that "employees want flexibility," he says. "And I think that will create a trust barrier between employers and employees."

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