After several years in which hybrid and remote arrangements felt like a settled norm at many Indian IT firms, 2026 has brought a string of more specific attendance requirements from some of the country's largest employers. The details differ by company, and they're worth looking at directly rather than lumping them into one generic "return to office" narrative.

What Infosys and Cognizant have actually asked for

Infosys has asked some entry- to mid-level employees to return under a hybrid pattern requiring roughly 10 days in the office per month — a defined minimum rather than a full five-day mandate. Cognizant's India CEO separately asked staff to aim for an average of around three days per week in the office, with the specifics left to individual team leaders to determine based on team needs. Both arrangements stop short of a full-time return, and both leave meaningful discretion either to the employee's schedule or their manager, which distinguishes them from the more rigid five-day mandates seen at some global employers over the past two years.

Why now

Multiple threads are converging. Surveys have found a notable share of employees who shifted fully remote during and after the pandemic say they miss aspects of in-person office life — collaboration, mentorship, and a clearer line between work and home among the most cited. Separately, a Randstad India study found about 46% of companies now want a return to the office, 32% are settling on hybrid models, and only 16% continue to offer open-ended work-from-home options — suggesting the center of gravity has moved from "remote by default" toward "hybrid as the compromise," rather than toward full office return.

Employers also have a more direct incentive: with industry-wide headcount under pressure and hiring slower than it was a few years ago (several of the same large IT firms have reported shrinking net headcount through 2026), companies have more leverage to set terms that would have prompted attrition in a tighter labor market.

What this means if you work in Indian IT

• Check whether your policy is a minimum, not a mandate. Both the Infosys and Cognizant arrangements described above specify minimums or averages, not blanket five-day requirements — there may be more room to negotiate specifics with your manager than a blanket announcement suggests.
• Expect variation by level and team. Both companies' policies differ by seniority band or are explicitly left to team leads, meaning two people at the same company can have very different real-world obligations.
• Factor this into any job search. If flexibility matters more to you than it used to, ask about the actual in-office expectation — in days per week or month, not just the word "hybrid" — before accepting an offer. The term has come to cover a wide range of real policies.

More on these specific policies: Infosys's return-to-office requirement and Cognizant's office-attendance policy.