Pandemic Shift Reversed? LatAm Heads Back to Office

Across Latin America, the remote work revolution appears to be grinding to a halt. As 2025 progresses, offices are reclaiming their dominance, and the work-from-home era looks increasingly like a fleeting pandemic experiment.

The region is now leading the world in five-day in-person work, according to a recent JLL real estate consultancy study.

Six out of ten companies in the region have already ditched remote arrangements, pulling their workforce back to desks.

Peru stands out for its tough stance—remote work is almost extinct. Barely 10% of service sector workers still work from home. Meanwhile, other countries are following suit: Colombia sees 72% of its workforce back in offices, Brazil 60%, Chile 56%, and Mexico 54%.

In Peru, of the 764 companies that adopted remote work during the pandemic, a staggering 90% plan to fully return to in-office setups by early 2025, according to ResumeBuilder.com.

Real estate lobbying, unmotivated employees, and strict government regulations are collectively casting a shadow over the future of remote work.

There are cultural factors also, stated Mark Beyer, founder of Mybey Ventures. “Supervisors in Latin America often prefer direct oversight. Remote work disrupts this dynamic, leaving managers uneasy about accountability and day-to-day control.”

In Mexico, many firms have ended remote work due to concerns about decreased productivity and difficulties in maintaining employee oversight.

“The culture in Mexico is not one of a lot of trust. Companies feel that during the Pandemic many employees started to abuse the home office situation, not being controlled by the management,” said Peter Kroll, Country Manager for Novacomp in Mexico.

“Productivity of many workers went down when working 100% remotely and companies believe this is because there were too many distractions working from home.”

Some countries introduced remote work regulations to benefit employees, but ironically, these measures indirectly pressured companies to abandon remote working altogether.

In Mexico, for instance, government required companies to pay for home office essentials—chairs, internet, electricity—and take responsibility for employee health and safety at home.

“This is difficult to implement,” says Kroll. “Many companies simply don’t want to bear these risks.”

The primary argument, says Dionisio Chiuratto Agourakis, CEO of JAI, a São Paulo-based company that offers AI support to boost productivity, is that in-person work is more productive than remote work.

“This is especially relevant for junior employees, who miss out on the benefits of being in a physical workplace, such as learning from colleagues, observing workplace dynamics, and improving through direct interactions.”

A less-discussed but growing issue, Agourakis said, was  the trend of employees holding multiple full-time remote jobs simultaneously—sometimes as many as three or four—without informing their employers.

This behaviour, widely discussed by employees on Reddit and Twitter, has made companies more skeptical about remote work, he added.

“In Brazil, some organizations implemented strict measures such as requiring webcams and microphones to be on during work hours, or monitoring keyboard and mouse activity, to ensure productivity.”

The Challenge of Retaining Staff

With the decline in remote work, retaining employees will become a significant challenge for companies already grappling with talent shortages.

In late 2024, workforce analytics firm Revelio uncovered a troubling trend: return-to-office (RTO) policies were shrinking workforces in many organizations.

Analyzing hiring and attrition data from public U.S. companies, Revelio found a stark contrast. Since June 2022, when RTO mandates gained momentum, firms offering flexible work have grown their workforce by 1.6%, compared to just 1% growth for companies enforcing in-office attendance.

“Yes, companies are aware that they will lose precious talent. But it was inevitable” Agourakis added.

Ultimately, companies may need to explore ways to adapt teleworking model to improve employee retention. In a similar JLL survey conducted in 2024, 62% of respondents said they may plan to create a network of workspaces closer to employees’ homes, aiming to make the transition more appealing and retain talent.