Instagram has ordered all of its US-based workers to return to the office full-time next year but has promised to reduce the number of pointless meetings.

The social media giant has joined a number of other tech companies making efforts to bring employees back into the physical office following the rise of flexible and remote work during and after the COVID pandemic.

In a memo to staff titled “Building a winning culture in 2026”, reported by Business Insider, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said that all employees in the US will be required to attend the office five days per week from the start of February next year.

This will boost collaboration and help to make Instagram “more nimble and creative” as it faces growing competition in the social media space, Mosseri said.

“I believe that we are more creative and collaborative when we are together in-person,” Mosseri said in the memo.

“I felt this pre-COVID and I feel it any time I go to our New York office where the in-person culture is strong.

“You’ll still have the flexibility to work from home when you need to, since I recognise there will be times you won’t be able to come into the office.

“I trust you all to use your best judgement in figuring out how to adapt to this schedule.”

Workers encouraged to decline meetings

To help lessen the blow for employees, Mosseri also promised to reduce the number of unnecessary meetings for Instagram workers.

“We all spend too much time in meetings that are not effective, and it’s slowing us down,” Mosseri said.

This will be done by cancelling all recurring meetings every six months and only re-introducing them if they are found to be “absolutely necessary”.

Instagram workers will also be encouraged to decline meetings if they will get in their way of focused work time.

Workers have previously said they'd quit rather than return to five days in the office. Photo: Shutterstock

Instagram also plans to encourage more product prototypes to be created and for decisions to be made faster.

“I want most of your time focused on building great products, not preparing for meetings,” the memo said.

“Prototypes allow us to establish a proof-of-concept and get a real sense for social dynamics, and we use them far too infrequently.

“2026 is going to be tough, as was 2025, but I’m excited about our momentum and our plans for next year.

‘These changes are going to meaningfully help us move Instagram forward in a way we can all be proud of – with creativity, boldness and craft.”

The return to the office

Instagram has now joined fellow tech giant Amazon in ordering its workers back into the office full-time.

Also last year, Amazon said it would be requiring all of its corporate workers to work five-days per week from the office, and told those who didn’t want to do this to quit.

Other tech giants have taken slightly different approaches, with Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft all requiring their staff to attend the office at least three days per week, rather than full-time.

A number of public and private Australian organisations have also looked to lure their workers back into the office in recent years.

Late last year, all New South Wales public servants were ordered back to the office, with working from the physical office made the default situation.

NAB also recently announced plans to increase the number of days it will require employees to work in the office, leading the financial union to claim the bank was “tone-deaf” and out-of-touch”.

The Fair Work Commission recently ruled that a Westpac employee must be allowed to work from home permanently, deciding that the bank did not have reasonable grounds to refuse their request to work from home full-time.

Numerous reports have found that workers of all ages and seniority levels will consider quitting their job if required to return to the office five days a week.