We’re Not Going Back! Lessons Learned From Five Years of RTO Demands

As we approach the fifth anniversary of post-Labor Day Return to Office (RTO) mandates, it prompts a critical question: Why do some organizations continue to believe forcing everyone back in time to outdated work models, for arbitrary reasons, is the right approach??

At this point, we're all familiar with the well-documented benefits of flexible work—enhanced productivity, satisfaction, equity, belonging, engagement, culture, and reduced burnout. At the same time, research consistently shows that RTO mandates offer little to no upside and significantly increase attrition among high performers, women, and Millennials in particular. When will these organizations recognize that we're on the other side of a fundamental shift in how and where we work??

Why RTO Demands Don’t Work

RTO demands don’t work because they trigger several powerful psychological tensions, including reactance, loss aversion, gaslighting, and cognitive dissonance.??

• Reactance: When people, particularly grown adults feel their autonomy is threatened or their freedoms are constrained, it causes their inner 2-year-old to perk up and resist it. When leaders make RTO demands, even if people had already planned to come into the office, the demand itself triggers the person’s inner rebel and they feel a strong urge to reject the mandate. We’ve seen this play out in The Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting, and Coffee Badging. At best you’ll get compliance while people look for another job; at worst, you lose your top talent along with the trust and respect of your employees and customers.?
• Loss Aversion: Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s Nobel Prize-winning theory of loss aversion posits the pain of losing something is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining it. During the pandemic, most knowledge workers were finally treated like adults and allowed to manage where and how they worked. Organizations attempting to take that freedom away post-pandemic are triggering this pain.?
• Gaslighting: Dismissing the reality of what we’ve collectively experienced over the past several years is a form of gaslighting. Despite all the data showing that we can work better, more productively, and happier when flexible, many leaders don’t trust their people and continue to try to force them back into an old, broken model. This causes detrimental effects such as increased stress and burnout, lower productivity, more sick days, lower engagement, and lower life satisfaction.?
• Cognitive Dissonance: The lessons we learned during the pandemic have fundamentally reshaped our understanding of how we can work and live more effectively. We can’t unsee it. Now, employees who are asked to revert to outdated practices experience a profound sense of cognitive dissonance—struggling to align the truths we’ve uncovered with the directives they are given.?

What To Do Instead

First, let’s acknowledge that the assumptions some leaders have about what it takes to maintain an engaged, high-performing workforce are outdated and fundamentally flawed. Organizations with multiple offices or floors have long recognized that effective work doesn’t hinge on physical proximity. Yet, many leaders continue to resist, citing concerns about productivity, culture, and development—concerns that are increasingly contradicted by data. Let's dispel these myths and delve into more effective strategies that will genuinely help you achieve your desired outcomes in this evolving landscape.

1. Culture and Connection Transcend Proximity

Contrary to the belief that culture consists of in-office perks like "Taco Tuesdays" or foosball tables, in actuality, culture transcends physical proximity. It’s the lifestyle of an organization—shaping interactions, work ethic, and behavior. Whether employees are in the office, working from home, at a client site, or sending an email during the commute, they’re demonstrating the culture. Distributed teams can actually foster a stronger, more inclusive, and effective culture because it necessitates intentionality and embedding culture into the fabric of the organization rather than letting it form organically based on day-to-day office dynamics. When it comes to fostering connection and belonging, the data shows no correlation between physical presence in the office and genuine team connection. Similar to the way being alone is not the same as feeling lonely, one can be surrounded by colleagues yet still feel isolated if they do not feel truly seen and accepted. Conversely, team members spread across various locations can feel deeply connected through meaningful interactions that make them feel valued and part of something exciting. Here are a few ways to build culture and connection regardless of where you are:

• Purposeful Gatherings: Annie Dean and the team at Atlassian have conducted a ton of research and experiments on this topic and developed a playbook called 1000 Days of Remote Work. They found that bringing teams together around 3 times a year to intentionally build connection leads to an average 27% increase in feelings of connection, and this boost lasts 4 to 5 months.
• Shared Experiences: Host virtual guest speakers and musical artists, or have the team listen to a podcast, read a book, try a recipe, and then discuss it together. Leverage digital platforms like Imperative to build team connections and trust. Create communities such as employee resource groups (ERGs) and topical Slack channels to create a sense of belonging and purpose.
• Interdependence: Foster meaning and empathy across teams by connecting the dots for them, enabling them to see how their roles and tasks impact colleagues, clients, and the broader ecosystem. One of my clients did this by rotating people from the Customer Success, Professional Services, and Sales teams every three or six months. This enabled Sales to see how the upfront promises they made to customers impacted the other teams downstream and also enabled the Professional Services and Customer Success teams to help Sales develop more impactful offerings for customers.???

2. Innovation Thrives on Diversity of Thought, Not Physical Proximity

Another common concern is that remote work stifles collaboration and innovation. However, research from experts like Stanford’s Jeremy Utley suggests that distributed work can actually enhance creativity. Innovation flourishes when teams bring diverse perspectives and experiences to the table….which is the opposite of having everyone confined to the same 4 walls, having the same experience day in and day out. Here are a few ways to foster true innovation:

• Virtual Brainstorming: Leverage Miro or another platform to facilitate online idea-sharing sessions, followed by virtual or in-person meetings to finalize plans if needed.
• Transcend Silos: Invite other departments and teams to observe your meetings, or establish cross-functional and cross-generational teams to foster diverse perspectives.?
• Idea Sharing Platforms: Develop a digital platform for employees to submit ideas, with leadership reviewing and implementing selected ones. Be sure to publicly recognize those who make contributions to motivate further innovation.
• Encourage an Idea-Generating Culture: Encourage people to take a walk at lunch, spend the afternoon exploring an art museum, or immerse themselves in nature to inspire fresh ideas and ignite their creativity. This can be done as a team or individually.

3. Productivity and Performance Aren’t Defined by Presence

In today’s digital era, where work is largely conducted through digital platforms—even within traditional office settings—productivity can no longer be measured by mere physical presence. Even before the pandemic, Harvard Business Review found presenteeism (being present but not productive) costs upwards of $150 billion a year. To foster genuine productivity and performance, organizations need to get to the root cause of impact, implement practices that emphasize outcomes over office hours, and ensure their teams are supported with the trust, clarity, and tools to thrive. Here’s how to do it:

• Design the work around outcomes and what is required: ?Regardless of where, when, or how the work gets done, it’s key to design and align metrics, KPIs, and incentives around outputs instead of inputs. As Brian Elliott co-founder of Future Forum , notes, when you base your success measures on inputs, you get quantity – emails, meetings, and lots of activity. However, activity alone does not equate to quality or impact and can often become a distraction. Measuring outcomes, however, puts the focus on what matters and encourages an ownership mindset. To implement this in your organization, set organization-wide objectives and key results (OKRs). Let each team decide how they want to meet those goals and rather than tracking hours logged, track performance outcomes. For salespeople, these could include sales generated and client satisfaction; for customer support teams, response and resolution time; and for software engineers, speed of development and deployment.
• Leverage Asynchronous Work and Platforms: Enhance effectiveness by optimizing collaboration technologies to seamlessly integrate synchronous communication, such as phone calls and videoconferencing, with asynchronous methods like email and shared documents. Upgrade platforms to streamline idea sharing and workflow monitoring, ensuring all employees stay informed and engaged, regardless of their location. Prioritize synchronous communication for team-building and critical discussions, while leveraging asynchronous tools for ongoing collaboration and information exchange. This approach maximizes productivity and flexibility across the organization.

4. Employee Development Has Evolved

Millennials and Gen Z approach learning differently from Boomers and Gen X. The traditional methods of expensive offsites and lengthy, lecture-based training sessions are no longer necessary or effective. Today’s learners prefer short, bite-sized, and targeted content delivered just when they need it, allowing them to acquire skills more efficiently and in real-time. Flexible work arrangements have further transformed employee development, making it more accessible and cost-effective. To meet the needs of today’s workforce, here are some approaches that stand out:

• Learning in the Flow of Work: In distributed environments where spontaneous interactions are limited, providing real-time coaching and feedback is crucial for the immediate application of new knowledge and skills. Regular, specific, and forward-looking feedback, reinforced by frameworks such as the After Action Review (AAR), which assesses successes, challenges, and areas for improvement, helps streamline this process effectively. Additionally, AI-based platforms like Poised can enhance feedback effectiveness by providing insights into meeting dynamics, ensuring a more constructive and impactful approach.
• Virtual Apprenticeships: Encourage senior employees to copy junior staff on emails and add them to Slack channels, calls, and Zoom meetings, which provide them with opportunities to observe and learn.?
• Virtual Learning Communities: Foster virtual learning communities or interest-based groups where distributed employees with similar interests or career goals can connect, share resources, and collaborate through participation in online forums, discussion boards, or virtual meetups to facilitate peer learning and support.
• Leverage Augmented and Virtual Reality: As augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies continue to mature, companies like Walmart, Bank of America, and MGM are increasingly leveraging them for employee development. AR/VR technology offers significant benefits for training distributed teams, ensuring consistent learning across locations and time zones while reducing costs. It allows employees to learn at their own pace, enhances engagement and retention, and is scalable for growing or dispersed workforces. Virtual reality simulations provide a safe space for skill practice, and AR/VR platforms offer data-driven insights for tracking performance and customizing training. Additionally, these technologies are increasingly popular for remote onboarding, with Accenture using them to successfully onboard around 200,000 new employees in recent years.

5. Leaders Were Ready For an Upgrade

Leading in a flexible work environment requires a shift in mindset and the development of new habits. The good news is that the core skills necessary for managing distributed teams—such as digital fluency, empathy, and trust—are the same ones that enable leaders to effectively connect with and manage a diverse, multi-generational workforce. Here are a few strategies to master to thrive in this new world:

• Embrace Digital Fluency and Asynchronous Tools: Proficiency in collaboration, communication, and project management tools is critical for success. To fast-track skill development consider partnering with a Gen Z reverse mentor. They may even help you with your TikTok skills. ??
• Clarity and Transparency: Communicate clear goals, deadlines, and performance expectations to team members. Team-level agreements are a great way to start.
• Trust and Accountability: Providing autonomy and flexibility while empowering team members to make decisions demonstrates trust in their abilities. Equally important is holding individuals accountable for their actions, which reinforces a sense of responsibility. Additionally, fostering a supportive environment where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities rather than failures encourages risk-taking and innovation, further strengthening trust within the team.

6. Make the Office a Magnate, Not a Mandate

Given all of this, if your organization still feels you need to bring employees back to the office, you’ll need to take a "magnate, not mandate" approach. To motivate employees to leave the comfort of their homes and make the daily commute, companies need to offer more than just expectations—they must provide compelling reasons that resonate with their workforce. This involves being intentional, and taking a data-driven, employee-centric lens when designing your strategies.

• Remove Friction: Organized hybrid schedules ensure that employees' time in the office is both productive and rewarding, avoiding the frustration of commuting just to spend the day in virtual meetings. Tools like Café , Kadence and Scoop can help coordinate office time and enhance real-life interactions.?
• Focus on Connection: The Work Trend Index Report reveals that 73% of workers need more than company obligations to be motivated; they crave meaningful human connection and collaboration that can only occur in person. Leaders should intentionally use the office to rebuild social capital by prioritizing connection over busy work during in-person time. By allowing employees the space and permission to focus on relationship-building—free from the stress of overlapping deadlines—they can foster deeper connections and recharge.?
• High-Profile Destination: Companies should focus on making the office a high-profile destination by facilitating meaningful interactions, experiential events, and access to leaders and high performers.
• Listen, Experiment, and Iterate: Future Forum data reveals that most post-pandemic planning occurs without direct employee input, setting the stage for failure. To ensure success, engage with your people and understand what they need to be most effective. No one has all the answers and in this uncharted territory, we must approach the situation with empathy, curiosity, and a willingness to learn together.

The continued insistence on making RTO mandates reflects a resistance to the evolving nature of work and the broader shifts in our world. Old ways of working are becoming increasingly irrelevant and misaligned with the diverse and dynamic needs of today’s workforce. To thrive in this new era, organizations must prioritize flexibility, build trust, nurture authentic connections, and provide employees with the tools and environments to succeed. The future of work calls for embracing change rather than clinging to outdated models. Leaders who resist adapting leave their organizations vulnerable to disruption, while those who embrace and integrate these new insights are paving the way for a stronger, more resilient future.

??References linked in comments