Return to Office Mandates: Crisis or Opportunity?
More and more companies demand that employees return to the office. But what do we do with them when they return? Work has been broken for a while, so why not seize this opportunity to reimagine it?
After three years of remote work, more and more companies want their employees to return to the office. Some (for example, Twitter and Goldman Sachs) issue blunt edicts demanding five days in the office. Others settle for three days in the office (for now) and ask managers to approve exceptions. In a recent?Microsoft Research survey?of 31,000 employees, 50% of managers said their employers will require full-time, in-person work in 2023. Another?survey?of 1,000 employees found that 75% of both remote and hybrid work companies plan to refine their work location policy over the the next six months, requiring more time in the office.?
What’s behind the push? Some executives worry about the long-term effect of remote work on culture, collaboration, and creativity. Others are concerned about decreased productivity or the difficulty to train the next generation of workers.?
Regardless what your employer’s reason for demanding a return to the office, if you are managing people, here are three things to expect:
Frustration?
For the last three years, many employees have enjoyed a degree of flexibility they did not have before - and arranged their lives accordingly. Taking it away will upset people’s lives significantly. As their manager, you should expect to hear complaints. Where else should the frustration go? Be prepared for a drop in employee engagement that is not likely to dissipate anytime soon.
Push back
In the same Microsoft survey, 73% of employees say they need a better reason to go in than just company expectations. Some will refuse outright to come back to the office, testing how serious the organization really is about enforcing the mandate. As a manager, you can expect to be challenged.?
Turnover?
The Great Resignation has reminded us that the labor market is subject to the laws of supply and demand. Employees are the customers. The job is the product. Requiring employees to spend hours commuting makes your product less attractive. Competitors will take advantage of the situation and offer more flexible work arrangements. Turnover will probably increase.?
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Given all that, what can you do to make the best out of a difficult situation?
Seize the Moment
The line “never let a good crisis go to waste” is attributed to Winston Churchill. What if you turned the return to work crisis into an opportunity to reimagine work? Employees want meaningful work, autonomy, and feedback. Companies want productivity and accountability. These goals are not mutually exclusive.?
But how do you go about that??
Start with inviting those who do the work to help you reimagine it. It is not only respectful of their unique perspective and expertise, but it also generates buy-in and builds a sense of ownership. Nobody washes a rental car - so don’t expect employees to feel a sense of ownership if you make all the decisions for them.?
Make time for working on the business, not in the business. Organize an in-person workshop to step back and challenge the status quo.?
Exploring these questions together with your team will identify actionable opportunities to make work better.?
Shameless plug: We offer a highly interactive team workshop (the famous Pizza Simulation) that equips participants with tools and frameworks to make work more productive, valuable, meaningful, and impactful. Participants experience first-hand the dramatic improvements that can be realized through better designed work.?
A return to office edict can wreak havoc, but it does not have to. Seize the opportunity to make the most of the design space you have. Because people will come to the office if the work is worth doing.?