The remote-work wars are largely over by 2025, but not everywhere. The pandemic era of white-collar workers logging on from home and staying there all week ended in 2024, as bosses decided to call them back in to work as many as five days a week. (Amazon was a notable company leading the charge, while Elon Musk famously said remote workers were “pretending” to do their jobs.) But commercial real estate giant JLL found something new in its September 2025 report on the future of hybrid work: a new remote renegade workplace archetype.
This is not the disengaged quiet quitters of the pandemic era, nor is it a staunch traditionalist. This is what JLL called empowered “non-compliers”: high-value, highly skilled employees who simply ignore office attendance rules when it suits them—and they have the leverage to get away with it.
According to the JLL Workforce Preference Barometer 2025, which surveyed 8,700 office workers globally, a significant disconnect has opened between policy acceptance and actual practice. While 72% of the global workforce views office attendance policies positively, that sentiment does not guarantee they actually show up.
Who are the non-compliers?
The report paints a vivid demographic profile of this group. Unlike “compliers,” who tend to be older and value stability, the empowered non-complier is typically younger—often between 30 and 34 years old. They are frequently found in the tech sector, particularly in North America, and often hold managerial roles.
