Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri asks employees to return to office full time starting 2026

Instagram

Instagram is gearing up for a major shift in how its employees work. CEO Adam Mosseri has told staff that most US workers will be asked to return to the office five days a week starting February 2, 2026. The move signals a clear departure from the hybrid setup that became common after the pandemic.

Mosseri explained in a memo that bringing people back together will help Instagram stay “more nimble and creative” at a time when competition among social media platforms is intense. Fully remote employees will continue in their roles, and there will still be room for the occasional work-from-home day, but the broader message is that Instagram wants its teams collaborating in person again.

The transition might take longer for New York workers because the company is still dealing with office space limitations. Employees based in Menlo Park may also get the option to shift to San Francisco if the commute time remains the same or improves.

Along with the return-to-office push, Mosseri outlined several productivity-focused changes. One of the biggest adjustments is a major cutback on meetings. Recurring meetings will be automatically cancelled every six months unless absolutely necessary. Mosseri also encouraged employees to make one-on-one check-ins biweekly and to decline any meetings that interrupt their designated focus hours.

“We all spend too much time in meetings that are not effective, and it’s slowing us down,” he wrote. His goal is for employees to spend more time building and experimenting. That means fewer slide decks, more prototypes, strategy documents limited to three pages, and meeting objectives that are clear from the start.

Mosseri said he will share more details during an upcoming All Hands meeting. He also noted that 2026 is expected to be another tough year, similar to 2025. Even so, Instagram is seeing strong engagement. Video watch time on the platform has risen 30 percent year over year, and the company plans to highlight a wider range of content that reflects users’ varied interests.

Financially, Meta, Instagram’s parent company, is on solid footing. Revenue rose 26 percent year over year in the quarter ending September 30, 2025. Mosseri appears confident that these workplace changes will help the company stay competitive as it enters its next phase of growth.