Rethinking Mandatory Return to Work Mandates

In the wake of the pandemic, flexible work was the future. That is, until companies started reversing course. The flexibility of hybrid workplaces offered a balance between onsite collaboration and at-home focus time. Now industry leaders like Disney and Starbucks are rolling back remote work policies. In Canada, major companies are reversing their flexible work policies they once championed, with some even imposing four-day minimums in-office. A majority of workplaces are now offering fewer than three days of remote work.  

Organizations are citing concerns about maintaining corporate culture, sparking innovation, and fostering mentorship as their reasons for the return to office (RTO). But rather than investing in thoughtful work design or leadership support, many seem to believe that simply bringing everyone into the office will solve these challenges. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. 

In this three-part series, I will explore why return-to-office mandates are flawed, how to address the real underlying issues, and what a better workplace might look like. 

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The Pitfalls of Presence 

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In reality, leaders are already stretched thin. Adding a daily commute to their workload, without offering new tools or support for innovation, mentorship or culture-building, is a recipe for burnout. Instead of seeing engaged cohesive teams, we'll see frantic desk drop-in's, impromptu meetings, disorganisation, and disruption. 

Organisations, ultimately, want to improve the bottom line. And while working on innovation, culture, and engagement are all productivity boosters, RTO will actually cost more to businesses than flexible hybrid working situations. 

​The Cost of Cubicles

Employees proved during the pandemic that they could be equally, if not more, productive working from home. In fact, many organizations actually thrived and continued to hire at record levels.  

Despite many companies going fully remote, many thrived through the process and continue to hire at record pace" - Ben Wigert, Gallup

Investors recognize that there is no benefits for return to office policies and as such when companies announce RTO, there is no difference in stock price. Investors know it will cost more to maintain physical offices and that employee productivity will dip. Maintenance, power, utilities, and equipment costs all go up. Compare this to when you allow for flexible work arrangements, you can downsize your workspace that's needed and reinvest that money into technology. ​

Executives have a better setup at work. They probably have an office with a door. They probably don’t have the same childcare issues as many employees. The risk that we run, as a society, even in a hybrid-work setting, is executives don’t listen to employees looking for flexibility and a real proximity bias sets in among people who are at the office and those that aren’t.” - Brian Elliot,  Future Forum’s executive leader and Slack senior vice president 

Costs don't just increase for businesses—they also increase for employees. Since being in a mini-recession since 2022, people have felt the financial strain. Many have been priced out of rent in city centres and those trying to buy property have had to get farther and farther out of the city. Going into the office, therefore, increases the need for before- and after-school care, pet daycare, hospice support, reliable transportation, to name a few. In fact, Gartner estimates the average daily cost for employees working in office to be $61.83. Over a year that's over $16,000.  

On top of financial costs, there are indirect and time-related costs. Time spent commuting means less time for fitness, health appointments, hobbies, and time with family and friends. Commuting also reduces employees time for rest, relaxation, and detachment—all of which are essential for full productivity the next day. If organizations don't consider supplementing for these costs for employees while asking them to commute, their stressors are going to increase--increasing burnout, disengagement, and turnover. 

The Productivity Paradox

While most executives would never admit it, their desire to return to the office may lead to a dip in productivity" - Amy Zimmerman, Chief People Officer, Relay Payment

While many assume employees are slacking off when working from home, on average Gartner found that performance reviews of remote employees were higher than in-office employees. Some workers may thrive in an office environment, however many will find themselves less productive due to distractions, office politics, comfort, etc.

Therefore, mandating either return to work or mandating fully remote working won't work.  Employees are unique individuals, with unique life circumstances, and unique roles. So what's required of them professionally and personally requires unique solutions. 

​A Culture of Commutes & Chaos

Companies have spent lots of time and money to try and drive inclusive, engaged cultures. Companies knows that happy employees equals productive employees.

So mandates to return to the office after people were feeling productive working flexibly, is going to have people ask why. And employees are mistrusting the reasoning. When employees start to mistrust, your company culture will begin to crumble. 

Many executives believe that being physically in-office creates stronger relationships, but virtual work actually creates more inclusivity. That is, virtual work levels the playing field for those who don't thrive in traditional office settings - whether that be because of health needs, race, or caregiving responsibilities, to name a few.

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Virtual work democratisizes information sharing. Instead of just those "in the room where it happened", tools like Slack and Teams are used. Now everyone has access to the same message, regardless of where they are or when they are available to see the message. This helps build culture that isn't bound by a physical space. ​

​Moving back in office not only begins to create mistrust because of executive's lack of reasoning, but it also builds mistrust because those side conversations start happening again. 

Being back in office can be extremely challenging for those with physical and mental disabilities. Employees also don't have equal access to transportation. Those feeling like they don't belong  found  working from home helped remove the everyday tension of being on the outside. They no longer had to worry about who to eat lunch with or which bathroom to use. Those lacking a feeling a belonging at work were able to meet that need by remaining close to their family and being in their communities at home. 

Consequently, the return to office begins to exacerbate inequalities. So, while organizations are spouting support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives while mandating return to office, it feels like "talking out both sides of your mouth". 

Employees also see this double-speak when organizations state they care about the environment but are asking employees to commute. And this problem is exacerbated the more the office isn't situated near public transportation. 

Going virtual levels the playing field. When COVID and remote work first started, employers had to become much more transparent and communicate much more. Because everything is virtual, there's less of this informal chatter we had in person. So that's going to make anybody feel more like they belong, especially folks that are not usually in those conversations" - Dr. Ella Washington, Faculty at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business and founder of Ellavate Solutions 

Because of return to work mandates, organizations have lost their employee relations momentum. A flexible work arrangement built mutual trust and empowered employees to have a say in their work making them feel like professionals. So what's really going on? In the next article we will explore some of the underlying reasons why executives want employees back and how we can address them.