These remote workers were ordered back to the office. They still work from home.

Employers are calling workers back to the office. But are they complying?

New research suggests some people are defying their bosses’ marching orders even as the job market cools and job anxieties mount.

The average number of days employees are required to be in the office rose 12% over the past year, but office attendance showed an increase of just 1% to 3%, according to Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and publisher of the Flex Index, which produced the report.

“The harsh return to the office mandate is like the law against jaywalking. It exists, everybody knows about it and nobody obeys it because it makes little sense,” said Stanford University economics professor Nick Bloom, who studies remote work.

Showing up in the office five days a week was the norm until the COVID-19 pandemic shut down offices across America.