Robinhood CEO admits his RTO call was wrong and now says execs must be in the office 5 days a week: ‘Your manager is going through more pain than you’

The CEO of the $100 billion fintech company, Vlad Tenev, is bringing his C-suite back into the office five days a week. Managers will have to commute just four days, and individual contributors will report three days a week to the office.  

While employees without direct reports have escaped stricter return-to-office measures, it could be a painful policy change for those in the corner office who’d prefer working from home. But that, Tenev says, is the whole point. 

“If you’re an individual contributor and you’re doing work, it’s very nice to know that your manager is going through more pain than you,” Tenev said in an episode of the Cheeky Pint podcast published Wednesday.

This marks a shift in tone from Tenev, who in 2022 announced Robinhood would be a remote-first company. He admits, however, that’s a decision he regretted “pretty much immediately.”

“Everyone said it was a one-way door, but it turns out it’s a two-way door. You can reverse pretty much anything,” he said. 

RTO measures for tech: The talent tug of war 

Despite being notably absent from the workplace themselves, bosses have spent the better part of three years cracking down on office attendance. In fact, 93% of CEOs say they don’t go into the office full-time and have instead adopted flexible working patterns. Namely, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol joined the coffee chain last summer as a remote worker. He wasn’t required to move to Seattle at the time, and the company even said it would help him set up an office near his Newport Beach, Calif. home and just use the corporate jet to travel to headquarters. (Niccol has since moved to Seattle and reports to headquarters).

But that hasn’t stopped tech giants from tightening their RTO policies. Microsoft is reportedly planning a stricter RTO policy after letting most employees work remotely for as much as 50% of the time without approval. Other CEOs, like Amazon’s Andy Jassy, have emphasized the importance of in-person collaboration, arguing it’s essential for maintaining Amazon’s innovative culture.

“We’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective,” Jassy said in September 2024. 

Some firms are taking enforcement even further. Amazon put an end to “coffee badging” by setting a minimum-hour obligation on in-office days. The term was coined to describe employees who badge in at the office just to get coffee and then leave.

This July, Samsung announced it would roll out a tool for managers to also track coffee badging. Last year, Dell gave its workers literal red flags for not swiping their badge enough. But as larger companies grow stricter, smaller ones are using it for more leverage by offering work-from-home benefits. 

A recent study found remote work topped the list of factors workers consider most important in a job, surpassing salary. Moreover, FTI Consulting reports 70% of remote or hybrid workers would consider looking for a new job if ordered back to the office full-time without a raise.