Idealism Vs. Reality In Return-To-Office Mandates: How Missing This Is Already Causing Problems For Leaders

There is a growing list of articles that have been coming out around the Return-To-Office Mandates that have been occurring.

I myself have written 8 articles on the Return-To-Office prior to this.

Honestly, I don't care to, I just keep finding GLARING Leadership Failures that make it an easy topic to come back to.

Truly, for a while, I was baffled by how so many Leaders could be SO COMPLETELY off-base and miss what is really easy to see.

However, I am starting to see the picture more clearly as I dive into the subject more.

The problem comes from a difference between Idealism in the Workplace versus the Reality of the Workplace.

The more I look at the reasoning that C-Suite Executives keep giving, the more clearly I see this problem.

I will explain where their reasoning is coming from, and why it is completely flawed.

The Idealistic Theories

From what I can tell, these C-Suite Executives demanding a Return-To-Office appear to be getting their beliefs from one of two schools of research.

One potentiality is that their ideas come from Flow Research.

The other potentiality is that it comes from Happiness Research.

Now, both of these areas of Research are incredible and insightful in how they impact the workplace.

In fact, I use much of the research and practices in my own work with clients because it is scientifically valid.

They also both have important insights into the Work-From-Home versus Return-To-Office debate.

The primary reasons I am hearing why C-Suite Executives are making the call back into the office are:

• Productivity
• Serendipity Of Ideas
• Wellbeing

All of these can, "in theory," be backed by Flow Research and/or Happiness Research.

Productivity

It is true from the Research that the highest levels of Productivity occur during Group Flow.

Group Flow is also more difficult (though not impossible) to attain outside of the Office.

It is also true that Happy employees are more productive than Unhappy employees.

In fact, Unhappy employees can end up becoming "Actively Disengaged", which is where they actively work "against" the interests of the company.

I would also suspect that due to a lack of directly "seeing" employees, there is a worry that some of them are Disengaged while outside the office.

Though the numbers in productivity don't match this belief, it is indeed more difficult (though not impossible) to increase engagement online.

Serendipity Of Ideas

We next come to "Serendipity" which keeps getting mentioned.

The fact that all these Executives use the same word makes it sound like they all went to the same conference or TED Talk and walked out with an idea that wasn't theirs or fully explained.

However, the concept of "Serendipity" too can be explained by both Flow and Happiness Research.

New ideas, requiring creativity, do occur more frequently in environments with more Flow States and when people are Happier.

In this sense, it can be reasoned, "in theory," that returning to work would produce more of these "Serendipitous" moments.

However, it is also true that we saw some of the highest levels of "Serendipity" from organizations during the beginning of the Pandemic because dire circumstances can also increase "Serendipity".

Arguably, we also saw significantly Higher-Quality "Serendipitous" moments during the Pandemic than prior to it.

Though, if the goal is "Frequency", then it does make sense that these happen more often In-Office.

Well-Being

Finally, there is the Well-Being argument that returning to work will improve overall Well-Being.

Well, there's theoretical evidence that this could be true.

People are, by nature, social creatures.

We thrive when we are in social environments.

When we are alone, we have higher rates of depression and weaker immune systems, both detrimental to well-being.

We also can't experience Group Flow when we are not a part of a Group.

We can get into Flow States by ourselves of course, but they are not as rich as when we get into Group Flow States.

Group Flow can indeed lead to better Well-Being.

But...

As you can see, there is Research that indicates what these C-Suite Executives are saying "could" be true.

However, literally, NONE of these theories matter because they all assume Idealistic Circumstances.

The truth is that NONE of these workplaces have the Idealistic Circumstances that would allow for these results to occur.

The Reality of workplaces not only completely invalidates ALL of these reasons, but are actively working AGAINST these desired results.

It also shows that these C-Suite Executives have no real understanding of the research they are utilizing to justify their decisions because if they did they would realize the mistakes they are blatantly making.

Why Reality Will Prevent ALL Of This

Here is the biggest problem standing in the way of all of these ideas - Reality.

For all of these theories to work, you have to assume that Group Flow and Happiness were a part of the work environment before the Pandemic.

If that were the case, then people would have experienced less Flow and decreased Work Happiness at home during the Pandemic, and they would be THRILLED to come back to the office!

... But that simply isn't the case.

When we actually look at the data of Reality, employees actually both IMPROVED Productivity AND Work Well-Being during the Pandemic!

This indicates both higher rates of Flow States and higher rates of Work Happiness OUTSIDE of the office.

There "is" data that showed Overall Happiness decreased during the Pandemic due to what has been called an "Epidemic of Loneliness", BUT Work Happiness actually INCREASED during the Pandemic!

Plus, since the effective end of the Pandemic, Overall Happiness has actually risen higher than Pre-Pandemic as people have continued working from home!

Now, this would NEVER have occurred if people were actually experiencing Group Flow and Happiness in their workplaces.

Which begs the question - why?

It's simple actually.

Burnout.

Burnout is a state of Well-Being that occurs when a person has been so stressed out for so long, that their body literally can't take it anymore.

It leads to less Happiness, inability to get into Flow States, decreased productivity, more sickness, and leads to Toxic workplaces.

THAT is the reality of workplaces.

The rates of Burnout that occur IN offices have been astronomical!

Over 75% of employees were experiencing Burnout!

This also indicates that there is a significant percentage in the other 25% (I'd guess around 15-20%) that are still extremely stressed out, they just haven't hit "Burnout" yet.

The reason that Productivity and Well-Being quickly increased during the Pandemic is because people FINALLY escaped this workplace reality.

Without all of the EXTREME stress that was occurring IN the workplaces, they were able to get into more Flow States.

Less stress also led to more overall feelings of Happiness and higher Well-Being.

Less time commuting also allowed employees more time to Recover, necessary for accessing Flow States consistently, AND it allowed them more time to partake in what they enjoy.

Could In-Office work produce more Productivity, "Serendipity", and Well-Being?

"In Theory", it could, BUT not in Reality.

At Least, not in the current Reality of the workplace.

The Sad Missed Opportunity

Here's what is being completely missed by C-Suite Executives.

Allowing employees to continue to work from home could actually be a GIGANTIC Opportunity to IMPROVE the workplace!

Why was there so much Burnout occurring?

Bad Leadership.

We all knew it, it wasn't a secret.

For decades we have had this problem.

Bad Leaders were turning the workplace into a Toxic Environment that was actively working against what businesses wanted to accomplish.

The Pandemic, which in theory should have destroyed "more" businesses, actually ended up reducing Stress and improving Happiness for many employees!

For the first time in at least a decade (likely longer), we have seen a POSITIVE CHANGE in the overall workplace DESPITE the circumstances that made it more difficult!

This all occurred because employees were finally distanced away from Bad Leaders.

Now, here's the Opportunity.

Working from home IS more difficult than working from the office!

It's more difficult to track and more difficult to manage.

It's more difficult to unite teams when they aren't in person, and it's more difficult to get them working toward goals.

So, Bad Leaders are actually EASIER to spot because of the more difficult circumstances they are under.

The employees aren't the problem, the data shows they are actually thriving because of these changes.

The Bad Leaders are worried though, because they see how it is more difficult for them to "actually" be accountable for anything.

It's easy to "look" busy and like you're doing well when you're in an office - it's more difficult to "prove" it's happening when you're not in an office.

If Executives were Wise, they would see this opportunity to either clean house of all the bad Leaders in their organizations, or to get them trained to become better Leaders while IN the more difficult circumstances!

If you can Lead an organization well remotely, then In-Person CAN actually lead to the results that are desired!

However, if you can't Lead well remotely, it's unlikely you will lead well in person either, which will lead us back to where we started - a workplace full of Burnout.

Final Takeaway

Instead of insulting the employees' experiences and punishing them, we should work toward ACTUALLY improving Leadership.

And yes, Executives are INSULTING employees making the claims that coming back to the office will improve Productivity, Serendipity, and Well-Being.

It is extremely clear from ALL of the data that employees have felt and achieved better Productivity, Serendipity, and Well-Being since working from home.

They KNOW it - that is why so many employees are refusing to come back!

Executives can "encourage" Employees all they want to return, but employees don't want to because the workplace and Leadership haven't improved.

The only way Executives are going to get employees back at this point is to begin firing those who are most resistant to coming back.

However, that will only FUEL toxicity and work against the goals of the organization overall, as it will lead to a higher rate of turnovers.

It's sad that there is this brilliant opportunity dangling in front of Executives, and they are willing to throw it away and make the workplace WORSE than it was before.

Executives are willing to throw away Reality based on Ideals that are not possible to achieve under the given circumstances.