Instagram will require its workforce to return to the office five days a week from early next year, becoming the latest major tech company to crack down on remote work.
In an internal memo titled “Building a Winning Culture in 2026”, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri told employees that full-time office attendance would be mandatory from 2 February 2026 for US-based staff. He argued that teams in the company’s New York office were already benefiting from a stronger in-person culture, which he linked to greater creativity, momentum and collaboration.
Mosseri, who has led Instagram since 2018, said: “Being nimble and creative is as important as strategy in making progress after a tough 2025. We’ve made good progress this year, but we still need to do more if we want to lead.”
The move makes Instagram stricter than its parent company, Meta. While Meta requires most staff across Facebook and WhatsApp to be onsite three days a week, the company said Instagram was free to set its own rules.
“We still have full-time remote work, and those eligible can apply,” a Meta spokesperson said. “Department heads can determine what works best for their teams. The Instagram policy is solely for Instagram, not company wide.”
Other major tech firms have been rolling back flexible work policies. Amazon reintroduced full-time office working earlier this year, and Elon Musk has required X (formerly Twitter) employees to work fully onsite since late 2022. Google and most of Silicon Valley now follow a hybrid three-day office model.
Alongside the back-to-office order, Mosseri announced new initiatives intended to reduce bureaucracy and speed up product development. Instagram will now cancel all recurring meetings every six months and reinstate only those that are “absolutely necessary”.
He urged staff to prioritise product prototypes over slide decks, writing: “I want most of your time focused on building great products, not preparing for meetings.”
The shake-up comes as Instagram attempts to sharpen its identity. Mosseri has said he wants Instagram to “stand for creativity”, while positioning Meta’s Threads app as a space for “perspectives”.
Despite stricter internal policies, Meta continues to post robust results. In its most recent quarterly earnings, revenue grew 26 per cent year-on-year to $51.2 billion, while daily average users across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads reached 3.54 billion — up 8 per cent from the previous year.
Instagram itself employs around 20,000 people across Meta’s global workforce.
