Remember 2020 when everyone said remote work was the future and we’d never go back to the office? Yeah, about that.
In 2025, we’re living through the great remote work reckoning. Companies that proudly declared themselves “remote-first” are suddenly discovering the urgent need for “collaboration” and “company culture” (translation: they want to watch you work). Major tech companies are mandating return-to-office policies, and that cushy WFH job you landed might not be as secure as you think.
But here’s the thing nobody’s talking about: some remote jobs were always going to disappear, and the signs were there from the beginning. You just didn’t know what to look for.
If you’re currently working from home—or hunting for a remote position—you need to know the red flags that signal your job might be temporary, about to be shipped overseas, or eliminated entirely.
Let’s break down the warning signs that your remote work situation is about to implode.
Red Flag #1: Your Company Went Remote Because of COVID, Not By Design
There’s a massive difference between companies that were remote-first before 2020 and companies that went remote because they had to.
The permanent remote companies: GitLab, Zapier, Automattic (WordPress), Buffer. These companies built their entire infrastructure around remote work. They have systems, they have culture, they have documentation. Remote isn’t a experiment—it’s their DNA.
The “emergency remote” companies: The ones that sent everyone home in March 2020 with a laptop and a prayer. They’ve been trying to make it work ever since, but their leadership never fully bought in.
How to spot it:
- Leadership constantly talks about “returning to normalcy”
- Hybrid policies keep getting revised every few months
- Promotions seem to mysteriously go to people who show up to the office
- Team meetings have that awkward mix of in-person people and Zoom squares
If your company’s remote policy feels like it’s being debated every quarter, that’s because it is. And when the economy gets rocky or leadership changes, remote work will be the first thing they axe.
What to do: Start building a backup plan. Look for jobs at companies that were remote-first before the pandemic, or at minimum, companies where the CEO has publicly committed to permanent remote work.
Red Flag #2: Your Job Can Be Done from Anywhere (Including the Philippines)
This one stings, but you need to hear it: if your job can be done from your apartment in Des Moines, it can also be done from an apartment in Manila for a quarter of your salary.
Companies are figuring this out fast. They’re realizing that if location doesn’t matter for you, it also doesn’t matter for someone overseas who’ll do the same work for $15/hour.
High-risk remote jobs:
- Data entry and administrative work
- Customer service and tech support
- Basic graphic design and video editing
- Social media management (without strategy)
- Transcription and content moderation
- Junior developer positions doing routine coding
Lower-risk remote jobs:
- Roles requiring US-specific knowledge (legal, accounting, regulations)
- Senior positions with strategic decision-making
- Jobs requiring real-time collaboration during US hours
- Positions with significant client-facing communication
- Specialized technical roles with niche expertise
How to spot it:
- Your company is hiring internationally for similar roles
- Your tasks are becoming increasingly standardized and documented
- You’re being asked to create detailed SOPs for everything you do
- New team members are contractors from overseas
What to do: Make yourself indispensable by developing skills that require cultural knowledge, strategic thinking, or specialized expertise. Move up the value chain. If you’re just executing tasks someone else planned, you’re vulnerable.
Red Flag #3: Suspiciously Vague Job Descriptions and Rapid Hiring
You applied for a remote position with a description like “digital marketing rockstar” or “growth hacker.” The interview was weirdly casual. They hired you within a week. The pay seemed generous for the work involved.
Congrats, you might have joined a company that’s either: (a) burning through VC money with no real business model, (b) about to pivot dramatically and eliminate your role, or (c) running some kind of semi-sketchy operation.
How to spot it:
- The company can’t clearly explain how it makes money
- Your job title is trendy but meaningless
- There’s high turnover (check LinkedIn for how long people actually stay)
- The company is constantly “pivoting” or “evolving its mission”
- You have a dozen meetings but produce little tangible output
What to do: Do your due diligence before accepting remote offers. Check Glassdoor reviews (especially the bad ones), LinkedIn for employee tenure, and whether the company has actual revenue or is just burning investor cash. If a company laid off people recently, assume they might do it again.
Red Flag #4: Your Manager Keeps Asking If You’re “Actually Working”
Trust is the foundation of remote work. If your company doesn’t trust employees to work from home, remote work will never survive there.
The signs of trust issues:
- Excessive check-ins and status updates required
- Time-tracking software or surveillance tools
- Pressure to always appear “green” on Slack
- Mandatory camera-on policies for every single meeting
- Managers asking to “jump on a quick call” every 30 minutes
- Punishment for not responding to messages immediately
This is management by paranoia, not management by results. And companies that operate this way inevitably conclude that remote work “doesn’t work” (translation: they’re bad at managing remote teams).
How to spot it:
- Your company installs monitoring software
- You get passive-aggressive messages about your Slack status
- Face time (literal or virtual) seems more valued than actual output
- Policies keep getting stricter, not more flexible
What to do: Document your results religiously. Keep a “wins” document showing your measurable impact. But also, start looking for companies with mature remote cultures that manage by outcomes, not activity.
Red Flag #5: All the Important People Are in the Office
Even if you’re “allowed” to work remotely, pay attention to where power actually sits.
If the CEO, the executive team, and all the senior leaders are in an office together while remote workers are scattered around, you’re in a two-tier system. And guess which tier gets first access to information, faces, and opportunities?
How to spot it:
- Important decisions happen in hallway conversations you’re not part of
- You find out about changes after they’ve already been decided
- Career advancement seems mysteriously easier for office-based employees
- You’re frequently left out of meetings or added as an afterthought
- Remote workers are called “distributed team” (othering language)
This creates “proximity bias”—the tendency to favor people you see regularly. It’s not conscious discrimination, but it’s real, and it’s deadly for remote workers’ careers.
What to do: If you’re committed to staying remote, actively look for companies where leadership is distributed. Check where the CEO lives. If the whole C-suite works from the same office building, that tells you everything.
Red Flag #6: The Benefits Are Getting Worse, Not Better
Watch the benefits trajectory carefully. Companies that are committed to remote work typically improve benefits over time—adding home office stipends, co-working space memberships, annual meetups, upgraded equipment.
Companies that are planning to pull the plug do the opposite:
- Home office stipends get cut
- Equipment budgets shrink
- Team gatherings get canceled
- Training budgets decrease
- They stop hiring for remote positions
These aren’t just cost-cutting measures—they’re signs that the company is devaluing remote work and the people who do it.
How to spot it:
- “Budget constraints” that only affect remote-specific benefits
- Increased emphasis on office perks (free lunch!) that don’t help you
- Talk about “investing in our offices” while cutting remote support
What to do: When you see this pattern, don’t rationalize it away. Start networking and updating your resume now, before the inevitable RTO announcement.
Red Flag #7: Your Industry Is Having an RTO Moment
Some industries are leading the charge back to offices: finance, real estate, traditional media. Others are staying remote: tech (mostly), marketing agencies, SaaS companies.
Pay attention to industry trends, not just your specific company. If everyone in your field is returning to offices, your company will feel pressure to follow—especially if your competitors are using it as a recruiting tool (“We value in-person collaboration!”).
Industries under pressure to return:
- Finance and banking
- Consulting
- Traditional corporate law
- Real estate and property management
- Manufacturing and supply chain (even office roles)
Industries staying remote:
- Software development and SaaS
- Digital marketing and advertising
- Content creation and editing
- Design and creative services
- Online education and training
How to spot it:
- Trade publications discussing the “return to office”
- Competitors announcing RTO mandates
- Industry conferences emphasizing in-person networking
- Thought leaders in your field advocating for office work
What to do: If your industry is trending back to offices and you’re committed to remote work, consider switching industries, not just companies. Your skills probably transfer better than you think.
The Harsh Reality of Remote Work in 2025
Here’s what nobody wants to say out loud: for many companies, remote work was a temporary concession, not a permanent transformation.
The pandemic forced an experiment. Now that the emergency is over, companies are reverting to what feels comfortable and familiar—even if it’s not actually better for productivity.
But that doesn’t mean remote work is dead. It just means you need to be strategic about where you work and realistic about job security.
How to Protect Your Remote Work Situation
If you’re currently remote:
- Become irreplaceable. Develop specialized knowledge. Build key relationships. Own important projects.
- Document everything. Keep receipts of your impact. Make your value visible and measurable.
- Stay connected. Don’t become the person nobody remembers. Overcommunicate your wins. Show up on video. Be present in chat.
- Have a backup plan. Always be passively job searching. Keep your LinkedIn updated. Build your network.
- Consider going independent. If your job can be done remotely, it can possibly be done as a freelancer or consultant—with more control and higher pay.
If you’re job hunting:
- Look for remote-first companies, not remote-friendly ones. There’s a huge difference.
- Check how long the company has been remote. Pre-2020 is ideal.
- Ask about remote retention rates. How many remote employees have been there 2+ years?
- Evaluate the leadership’s location. Where does the CEO work from?
- Read the fine print. “Remote” sometimes means “remote for now” or “remote with required office days.”
The Bottom Line
Remote work isn’t dying, but it is evolving—and not every remote job will survive.
The question isn’t whether you can work from home. It’s whether your company is genuinely committed to making it work, or whether they’re just waiting for an excuse to call everyone back.
Pay attention to these red flags. Trust your instincts. And most importantly, have a Plan B.
Because in 2025, job security isn’t about where you work—it’s about how difficult you are to replace, no matter where you’re sitting.