Instagram will abandon its hybrid schedule and return its staff to a full office format in 2026. Starting February 2, employees with fixed jobs will have to work in the office five days a week.
Instagram will abandon its hybrid schedule and return its staff to a full office format in 2026. Starting February 2, employees with fixed jobs will have to work in the office five days a week.
As Engadget reports, citing an internal letter from Adam Mosseri, the new rules primarily apply to employees in the US. The head of Instagram said that the company «needs to evolve» and warned that 2026 «will be challenging.» Formally, the possibility of remote work remains, but employees are advised to use it only «when necessary» and «use common sense» about when to stay home.
After the pandemic, many tech companies switched to hybrid models, combining some days in the office with remote work. However, in recent years, the trend has shifted towards stricter rules. Parent company Meta in 2023 required employees to spend at least three days a week in the office, explaining the need for better team interaction and faster decision-making.
Mosseri acknowledged in the letter that returning to a full office might be unpopular, and announced changes that should make the work less bureaucratic. Instagram will reduce the number of regular meetings: recurring meetings will be automatically canceled every six months unless they are deemed critically necessary. The team will prepare presentation «decks» less often and show live product prototypes more often, and the decision-making process will be promised to be faster.
Amidst tech industry layoffs and cost-cutting, the office presence is becoming a tool for employers to control and consolidate teams. At the same time, for employees, returning to a full office schedule is seen as a step back from post-COVID flexibility, and Instagram’s new policy could intensify discussions about the balance between companies’ interests and IT professionals’ expectations.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how Instagram finally released a separate app for iPad. The interface was optimized for large screens: after opening, the user immediately enters Reels, Stories are displayed at the top, and messages and notifications are visible next to them.
