“I’ve had a few days now to process this.” Morgan Sanner is a talent management strategist at Honda, a role she fulfills remotely. She’s not new to the CR-V, Civic, and Accord maker’s HR department, either. Since 2019, she has led many human-centered analytic and effectiveness projects.

Her tenure there includes administering the company’s remote work survey in 2020. The results, she says, reflected a strong emphasis on the pros of working from home. “I have been a die-hard remote work advocate since then.” Sanner recently shared her initial thoughts about the RTO order on her personal business’s social media. Her full video, posted on Instagram, is embedded below.

All U.S. Honda employees must report to the office 80% of the time by October

Honda issued an RTO policy last month. The internal memo let its U.S.-based staff know that it expected team members to spend 80% of their working hours at the automaker’s facilities.

“This decision is driven by the rapidly changing business environment,” a Honda rep told Business Insider. They cited “increased collaboration and innovation that we believe can best be achieved through in-person teamwork.”

Sanner says that when she got the notice, she felt “disappointed and crushed”

In her Instagram reel, she recounts that in 2020, the work-from-home survey results were loud and clear. “I’ve never seen so many long, free-write answers.” She says she received dozens of responses from Honda staff explaining all the positive things they were able to do for themselves and those close to them.

She read stories about parents who were able to take their children to chemotherapy. Respondents were able to pay closer attention to their personal health as well, with hundreds saying their fitness levels had “skyrocketed.” Folks with chronic headaches and insomnia reported their symptoms resolved after switching to remote status. Others were able to adopt pets in need of a home and benefit from the therapeutic aspects of animal companionship.

“When there’s a new way to work that makes people’s lives better, and it doesn’t cost you anything, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t wholeheartedly embrace it.”

Many RTOs result in apathetic employees who promise to leave if forced to go back to an office

These days, many large table topics spark mixed responses. Remote work definitely polarized more people in, say, 2021 or 2022. But in 2025, there doesn’t seem to be much support for these policy reversals. Especially if the team is going quite well without coming in.

Tech.co shared survey results that said a whopping 33% of staffers would just leave their roles if they were forced back into the lusterless grind of a daily commute and office-based distractions.

Moreover, the outlet reported that remote-first companies can expect 16% higher revenue growth than office-based ones.

“I don’t understand the decision to take a step backwards when you don’t have any data to show that it’s going to help you,” Sanner said of Honda’s sudden change. “But you DO have data that says this is going to harm your employees.”

Some suspect Honda’s move comes at a time when the automaker might not mind lower payroll with room to hire into an office-oriented work culture. After all, the Trump administration’s tariffs are making operating a car business mighty daunting. Honda might be looking to incubate its work culture to, at least in its view, better tackle its future market prospects, including moving more dedicatedly into the EV space.

“I just feel betrayed. I feel sad. I feel very let down. And that is all I know right now.”