Randstad CEO Reveals the New Rules of Workplace Leverage

Sander van ’t Noordende, CEO of Randstad—the world’s largest recruitment and talent firm—has delivered a stark reality check to the global workforce: Work from Home (WFH) as a standard right is dead.

In a series of high-profile year-end interviews, Sander revealed that the “return-to-office war” has reached a definitive conclusion.

The result is not a return to the pre-pandemic status quo, but the birth of a rigid “hybrid hierarchy” where 100% remote flexibility has transitioned from a public health necessity to an exclusive corporate reward.

A New Pecking Order Acc. to Randstad : The “Star Performer” Privilege

According to Randstad, which places roughly 500,000 workers into roles every week, the labor market has bifurcated.

While rank-and-file employees are being systematically summoned back to physical desks, fully remote roles are being gatekept for what van ’t Noordende calls “very special” talent.

“You have to be very special to be able to demand a 100% remote job,” Sander told Fortune.

“That’s increasingly the story. You have to have very special technology skills or some expertise.”

This shift suggests that flexibility is no longer a matter of company culture or trust, but a matter of scarcity.

In 2025, if an employee possesses niche skills—such as advanced AI development, specialized engineering, or rare architectural expertise—they retain the leverage to work from anywhere.

For everyone else, “visibility” is once again a mandatory component of the job description.

The Stabilized Middle: 3 Days is the New 5

Despite the “death” of full remote work for the masses, the CEO notes that the pendulum has not swung back to the traditional five-day office week.

Instead, an equilibrium has been reached.

• The Hybrid Standard: Most organizations have settled on a three-to-four-day office week.
• The Banking Exception: Only specific sectors, most notably high-finance hubs in major cities like New York and London, are aggressively pursuing a 100% in-office mandate.
• The Death of the Commute: While the commute has returned, the “9-to-5, five days a week” grind is no longer the default for the modern professional.

Randstad CEO Signals Shift in Values: Employability Over Location

Randstad’s latest Workmonitor research, which surveyed over 26,000 workers globally, supports this executive outlook.

Interestingly, the data shows that workers are beginning to accept this new reality.

Nearly two-thirds (67%) of workersnow say they would prioritize “employability”—the ability to stay skilled and relevant—over the ability to work remotely.

However, this acceptance comes with a price.

Workers who are “dragged” back to the office are demanding higher compensation, more annual leave, and greater autonomy over their specific working hours to compensate for the lost flexibility.

The Freelance Fallacy

For those thinking of escaping the office by going freelance, Sander offers another warning. The “gig economy” at the professional level also requires a “star” profile.

Success in independent work requires not just technical skill, but high-level commercial and networking abilities that the average worker may not possess.

In short, the “freedom” of 2025 has a high entry fee: unparalleled talent.

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