- RETURN TO OFFICE
The office is back
Remote work looked permanent. Today, it's the exception. Across thousands of placements since 2022, Betts Recruiting has a front row seat to how GTM teams actually structure work, and the pattern is unmistakable: companies are pulling people back in.
Share of hires by work model
- Remote
- Hybrid
- In Office
Two thirds of hires are no longer fully remote
This isn't a single bad quarter for remote work. It's a straight line. Every year since 2022, the same direction: less remote, more hybrid, more in office. What began as a slow drift after the pandemic peak has become the dominant hiring pattern across our client base, and hybrid, not full remote, has emerged as the new center of gravity.
Sourcing patterns shift fastest where funding does
Funding stage draws a sharper line than company size. Seed stays remote, Series C flips hard toward the office, and private equity backed companies are the one segment moving the opposite direction.
- Remote
- Hybrid
- In Office
Seed
Series A
Series B
Series C
Series D
Series E
PE backed
Share of hires by work model, per funding stage, 2026
Four years of data. One clear direction.
- Hybrid and in office setups are now the default
- Remote hiring is rolling back fastest at growth stage firms
- PE backed companies are the one group still hiring remote
- Whether candidates will follow is a different question
It's not just a handful of companies
The pull toward hybrid and in office work isn't isolated to one type of employer. It shows up across every company size band, from early stage startups to 1,000+ employee organizations, though size matters less than how a company is funded.
- Remote
- Hybrid
- In Office
1 to 50 employees
51 to 200 employees
201 to 1,000 employees
1,000+ employees
Share of hires by work model, per company size, 2026
New York leads the return, San Francisco settles into hybrid
Geography tells its own version of the story. In New York, full in office hiring went from essentially nonexistent in 2022 to a majority of roles by 2026, the sharpest swing in our data. San Francisco is moving the same direction but landing somewhere different: hybrid, not full in office, has become its default.
Work model, 2022 vs 2026
- 2022
- 2026
New York
San Francisco
Share of roles with a stated work model, by city
Remote talent still commands a premium, for now
Remote hasn't disappeared entirely, and pay explains why. Remote roles are consistently placed at a higher pay band than hybrid or in office roles, meaning the companies still hiring remote are doing it for their most senior, hardest to source talent.
| WORK MODEL | MEDIAN ADVERTISED OTE | MEDIAN PLACED OTE |
|---|---|---|
|
Remote |
$175,000 |
$150,000 |
|
Hybrid |
$150,000 |
$110,000 |
|
In Office |
$157,500 |
$120,000 |
Some functions are built for remote, others aren't
Customer Success remains the most remote friendly function in our data, with over half of roles still fully remote. Marketing leans hybrid hardest, the highest hybrid share of the three, and also has the most in office roles. Sales sits in between on every measure.
| FUNCTION | REMOTE | HYBRID | IN OFFICE |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Customer Success |
53.3% |
32.4% |
14.3% |
|
Sales |
42.7% |
39.9% |
17.5% |
|
Marketing |
35.4% |
46.3% |
18.3% |
Four years of data. One clear direction.
Companies spent the last few years testing how much work could be done remotely. Hybrid and in office setups are now the default, fastest at growth stage companies, slowest at PE backed firms. For 2026 workforce planning, the direction of travel is no longer ambiguous.
Companies want this. Next: do candidates want it too?
- SUPPLY AND DEMAND
The office comeback has a supply problem.
Across every chart in this report, employers are asking for more hybrid and in office work every year. But a pull of thousands of candidates newly active in the last 90 days shows a very different picture of what people are actually searching for. What companies want and what candidates are offering are moving in opposite directions.
Every company chasing an in office hire right now is chasing the same narrow pool as every other company. Most of them aren't looking for just anyone in it, they're looking for the best of it. That's not a sourcing problem, it's a supply problem, and it's exactly why this kind of hire is so hard to close.
The gap holds across every major market
California, New York, and Texas carry the most candidate volume, and the pattern doesn't change from state to state. In office interest stays in the low single digits everywhere, while hybrid and remote split most of the rest.
- Remote
- Hybrid
- In Office
California
New York
Texas
Florida
Illinois
Colorado
By state, share of candidates newly active in the last 90 days. Top 6 states by candidate volume.
BETTS RECOMMENDS
Hybrid reaches 54.5% of active candidates, more than any other model. Betts has curated North America's leading go-to-market talent network, giving you fast access even to the harder to find in office 5%.