Caterpillar Mandates 5-Day Return To Office (Read The Memo)

Caterpillar is officially ending its hybrid work model. In a memo obtained by Buildremote, the company told employees that all U.S. office-based staff are now required to work from the office five days per week.

This email was sent on Wednesday, April 9, and the policy goes into effect on June 2, 2025.

The move follows a January mandate for Caterpillar’s Resource Industries division, which also required a full-time return to the office.

Now, the policy has expanded to the rest of the company’s office workforce.

📩 What The Memo Said

In the internal communication sent last week, Caterpillar leadership wrote the following:

“Over the past few years, we have demonstrated that we can work in a variety of ways to deliver results. At the same time, we know the importance of collaborating in person and engaging with colleagues face to face.”

The memo emphasized in-person collaboration and alignment with Caterpillar’s long-term strategy. It stated that most of the company’s leadership team has already been working in the office full-time for more than a year.

“Being together in person enhances our ability to innovate, collaborate and make quick decisions,” the message read.

Employees were instructed to talk to their manager if they have concerns or need flexibility due to individual circumstances.

A Reddit thread also appeared on January 9 discussing the policy change. And a comment on a separate Reddit thread mentions the same.

Here’s the full text of the memo:

Caterpillar team,

We have been working in a hybrid work model since January 1, 2024, with varying results across the enterprise. In these uncertain times, it’s more important than ever that we are collaborating with a sense of urgency to meet our customers’ expectations while driving efficiencies in everything we do.

Not only is our culture of collaboration and connection among employees essential to successfully execute our strategy, bringing new and experienced employees together is how we develop the next generation of Caterpillar talent.

Given the current environment, we believe it is necessary to return to a Monday to return to a Monday through Friday, five-days-in-the-office work model. To allow time for employees to effectively adjust, this change will begin June 2.

Senior Vice Presidents will provide additional guidance as appropriate.

As with any company policy, adherence to the five-day work model is required and will be taken into account in performance reviews for all employees.

The Executive Office

Access Every Fortune 500 RTO Policy

At the time of writing, Caterpillar is of 24 Fortune 500 companies that require five days per week in the office.

• Five-day companies make up 14% of the known policies for the Fortune 500
• Three days per week is the most common policy at 41% of the dataset