Return To Office Policies For California’s Biggest Companies
In this report, we highlight the return-to-office (RTO) policies for the 10 biggest companies headquartered in California. This research by Buildremote is a free subset of our database, The Fortune 500 Return To Office Database. This report was published on July 13, 2025.
California ranks first in the nation for Fortune 500 headquarters, with 57 major companies based in the state, including Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Disney, and Nvidia. As corporate America redefines its return-to-office (RTO) expectations, this article examines the RTO policies for the biggest companies in California.
The State Of California Implements a Four-Day Requirement
On March 1, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-22-25, requiring California state employees to work in person at least four days per week starting July 1, 2025. The directive affects over 224,000 public sector workers, and the administration described the change as a return to in-person collaboration and accountability.
“The energy that comes from being back in the office is unmatched,” said Newsom. “We’re aligning with the private sector, where hybrid work has become the norm but not the default.”
On July 9, 2025, Newsom delayed his mandate that most state employees return to the office four days a week until July of 2026 in a deal with unions.
See Also:
RTO Policies For 10 Of California’s Largest Employers
In the private sector, the push is also trending toward more in-person time, but not universally. Among California’s 10 biggest Fortune 500 companies, hybrid is the dominant policy. Just one mandates four days per week. Two companies remain fully remote, and none require five days in the office.
Here are the RTO policies, starting with the biggest company first:
Apple
Apple reinstated a hybrid work policy with employees required in the office three days per week as of September 2022.
- Headquarters: Cupertino, California
- Global Headcount: 161,000
- Fortune 500 Rank: 3
- Office Visit Expectations: 3 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Hybrid
- RTO Date: 9/5/2022
Alphabet
Alphabet maintained a three-day in-office hybrid model since 2023 and, in 2025, began requiring remote workers to follow the same schedule.
- Headquarters: Mountain View, California
- Global Headcount: 182,502
- Fortune 500 Rank: 8
- Office Visit Expectations: 3 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Hybrid
- RTO Date: 4/23/2025
Meta Platforms
Meta began a three-day-per-week hybrid return to office in September 2023 following earlier phased returns.
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, California
- Global Headcount: 67,317
- Fortune 500 Rank: 30
- Office Visit Expectations: 3 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Hybrid
- RTO Date: 9/5/2023
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo established a three-day-per-week in-office hybrid policy starting in March 2022.
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California
- Global Headcount: 226,000
- Fortune 500 Rank: 34
- Office Visit Expectations: 3 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Hybrid
- RTO Date: 3/14/2022
Walt Disney
Disney implemented a four-day-per-week in-office hybrid schedule as of January 2023.
- Headquarters: Burbank, California
- Global Headcount: 199,125
- Fortune 500 Rank: 47
- Office Visit Expectations: 4 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Hybrid
- RTO Date: 1/9/2023
Nvidia
Nvidia remains remote-first with no official return-to-office mandate and zero required office days.
- Headquarters: Santa Clara, California
- Global Headcount: 29,600
- Fortune 500 Rank: 65
- Office Visit Expectations: 0 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Remote First
- RTO Date: No official return
Cisco Systems
Cisco continues to operate without an official return date and maintains a 0-day-per-week office requirement.
- Headquarters: San Jose, California
- Global Headcount: 84,900
- Fortune 500 Rank: 74
- Office Visit Expectations: 0 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Hybrid
- RTO Date: No official return
Intel
Intel requires employees to be in the office four days per week starting on September 1, 2025.
- Headquarters: Santa Clara, California
- Global Headcount: 124,800
- Fortune 500 Rank: 79
- Office Visit Expectations: 4 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Hybrid
- RTO Date: 9/1/2025
HP
HP has no formal mandate, but as of 2023, employees generally come in two to three days per week.
- Headquarters: Palo Alto, California
- Global Headcount: 58,000
- Fortune 500 Rank: 82
- Office Visit Expectations: 0 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Hybrid
- RTO Date: 9/12/2023
Uber Technologies
Uber called everyone into the office three days per week starting on June 1, 2022.
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California
- Global Headcount: 30,400
- Fortune 500 Rank: 113
- Office Visit Expectations: 3 days/week
- Workplace Policy: Hybrid
- RTO Date: 6/1/2025
How California Compares To The Fortune 500
When compared to our full Fortune 500 RTO dataset, California companies are more flexible (hybrid/remote) than the national average.
Workplace Policy Type:
- All 10 companies are hybrid or remote-first
- Across the Fortune 500…
- 84% are hybrid
- 11% office-first
- 5% remote-first
Office Expectations:
- In California:
- 5 of the 10 companies (50%) require three days per week in-office
- 2 companies (Intel and Disney) require four days per week
- 3 companies (Nvidia, Cisco, HP) operate without a mandated in-office schedule
- None require five days per week
- In the full Fortune 500 dataset (based on 177 known policies):
- 39% of companies require three days per week in-office
- 13% require five days
- Only 3% operate remote-first
California’s largest employers trend slightly more flexible than the national average, with more companies offering fully remote options and none enforcing a full-week return.
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