Instacart return to office policyRemote-first.
Under Instacart's 'Flex First' model, most employees can work from home, an office or both as often as they choose, and the company has no return-to-office date.
Days in the office
- Policy
- Remote-first
- In effect since
- Not known
- Announced
- Not known
- Industry
- Tech
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, CA
- Checked
- Confirmed October 2026
What the policy says.
- Some roles, such as Workplace Managers, IT and Regional Ops, must be in an office on certain days or in a specific location or time zone.
- US employees can work from any state except Alaska (US territories excluded). Canadian employees can be based in Ontario, Alberta or British Columbia.
- 'Team Jams': a few optional in-person gatherings a year by team, department or company, with travel paid by Instacart.
- Offices (San Francisco, Toronto, New York) are open to anyone who wants to come in.
How Instacart's policy changed since 2020.
March 2020
Employees move to remote work.
2021
Instacart adopts a remote-friendly model (Flex First) instead of a full office return.
October 2026
Careers site still states there is no return-to-office date.
Sources and how sure we are.
ConfirmedFrom the company, or reported the same way by several major outlets.The current status comes from Instacart's careers page as of October 2026. The exact Flex First launch date is unknown (around 2021), and no change has been reported since the CEO changed in 2025.
- 1.Flex First Instacart Careers, October 15, 2026
- 2.Introducing Instacart's Remote-Friendly Return to Work Instacart
Days a week are for most US corporate employees; some teams, roles and countries differ. Spot something out of date? Email hello@forgot.dev.
Other tech employers, side by side.
- Amazon5 days a week, since January 20255
- Dell5 days a week, since March 20255
- X (Twitter)5 days a week, since November 20225
- Intel4 days a week, since September 20254
- Snap4 days a week, since February 20234
- Apple3 days a week, since September 20223
- Expedia Group3 days a week3
- Google (Alphabet)3 days a week, since April 20223
Working to an office rule? Plan the days that matter.
The hybrid work schedule template builds a week of office days for your team: anchor days everyone shares, the rest spread so the office never overflows. Then Forgot keeps office days, remote days and vacations on one calendar, so nobody commutes in for a planning day half the team is away for.
Questions
Does Instacart require employees to return to the office?
No. Under Instacart's 'Flex First' model, most employees can work from home, an office or both as often as they choose, and the company has no return-to-office date.
How many days a week does Instacart require in the office?
Remote-first: there's no office requirement for most roles, as of October 2026.
What was the latest change to Instacart's office policy?
October 2026: Careers site still states there is no return-to-office date.