It wasn’t thousands of staff petitioning their boss to let them work from home that persuaded CEOs to loosen their in-office mandates—or even war in Iran threatening global oil supplies. It was the World Cup.
In fact, two of the loudest champions of the return-to-office movement, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, are temporarily allowing employees to request remote work on match days during the 2026 tournament, according to internal memos seen by the Financial Times.
