The Right Answer to the RTO Debate

Amazon recently?called back?its 350,000 employees to the office–full time–triggering outrage and ripping the scab from the where-we-work wound. Isn’t it time to resolve this conflict?? Research?proves, beyond a doubt, that hybrid work is not only productive, it improves job satisfaction and slashes quit rates. And the?most recent studies?have found that mandated RTO happens most frequently with older, male CEOs. This debate isn’t about efficiency or culture, it’s about control.?

The future of work shouldn’t be reduced to a power struggle.

This is one of the great innovation challenges of our time. Work deserves a clean sheet redesign, not a fall back to old habits. Holding a proverbial gun to worker’s heads is no way to build anything.

It’s time to give up on control and try good old fashioned conversation instead. Get curious. What kind of work actually requires teams to be together?? What do team members really need from leaders and each other? Ask open questions, genuinely listen to divergent answers, and challenge your own beliefs.

In the RTO debate, the right answer starts with genuine questions.

Here's what Reflection Point has been writing, thinking and doing this month.

What We're Thinking

Our latest ideas worth exploring.

• Amazon’s decision isn’t just another episode in the return-to-work soap opera. It’s actually?the canary in the coal mine?for a dangerous problem. The solution requires revisiting the workplace social contract.
• Turning off your Zoom camera?is the digital equivalent of showing up at an in-person meeting with a bag over your head. Here are?three ways?to show up and make virtual meetings work for you.
• Ann joined?host Austin Cross and Harvard professor Prithwiraj Choudhury on LA’s Airtalk (NPR) to discuss?the very real tension between hybrid and in-person work?in the wake of Amazon’s recent decision to call all their employees back to work.?Listen?here (starts at 25:30).?
• As election season comes to a climax and tensions flare, listening takes a serious hit. That affects everything from dinner conversation to teamwork.?Download?our whitepaper to help you?lean into listening as a powerful skill.

What We're Doing

How we're using stories to deepen connection and change the world of work.?

During the pandemic, Reflection Point wanted to do its part to help with the isolation and loneliness so many people were experiencing. So, we started a book discussion group for senior adults.

It was decidedly low tech. Most of the?participants didn’t have internet access or computers. Reflection Point mailed the books and set up a special phone line the seniors could call into for the conversations.

Even as disembodied voices over the miles, people opened up, shared personal stories, and built deep bonds while discussing the themes of the book: Marie Benedict’s?The Only Woman in the Room.

“Meeting these people over the phone was so enriching and that’s what older people need: socialization, reminiscing and enrichment, ” said participant Ann Kuula.

For all the CEOs ordering employees back to work under the guise that connection and culture can’t be built remotely, this small story is a powerful reminder of the old adage, “where there’s a will there’s a way.”

We'd love to hear from you

Where do you do your most creative and productive work??

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