It’s Happening: Top Ways to Ease the Return to Office Transition
It has been almost five years since the Covid-19 pandemic threw our lives into upheaval and forced a reckoning in the world of work. Organisations had to adapt to lockdowns and quarantines across the country, and aside from frontline workers, many people learned how to use Zoom and embraced a new way of working.
In the time since many of us turned our dens into cubicles, life has returned to something resembling a new normal. Not exactly a return to how life was pre-pandemic, but organisations are searching for that feeling. Whether or not people like it (the results are entirely mixed), leaders are calling people back to the office in droves, some companies notoriously giving ultimatums, requiring all five days in person, others taking a more moderate approach with a hybrid model. Where most of the new roles posted in 2021-2022 were remote, a quick scroll on LinkedIn will show that the vast majority of job listings now require at least some time spent in an office.
While many seek to understand why (executives have said everything from the unique benefits of in-person collaboration to water-cooler aha moments), the reality is that regardless of how the workforce feels about it, it’s happening. While it’s impossible to put the genie back in the bottle and recapture the pre-pandemic diligence of required office attendance (many people didn’t even know how revolutionary remote work could be!), how leaders handle return-to-office mandates will make a world of difference when it comes to not only compliance but, dare we say, enthusiasm about these changes.
Our partners at Wiley Workplace Intelligence sought to gain deeper insights into the return-to-office revolution. They aimed to understand how organisations are implementing these changes and how people are feeling about it. Are entirely remote positions becoming a thing of the past, a pandemic-era fever dream? And what can you, as leaders in your organisations, do to help ease this often fraught transition?
To gather this information, they surveyed 1,742 individuals in a variety of roles to understand whether they are being impacted by return-to-office mandates and how they feel about it. 41% of respondents reported working in an office, 41% were hybrid, and only 18% were fully remote.
Return-to-Office Mandates the New Norm?
Almost half (40%) of respondents who previously worked remotely reported that their organisation has enforced a return-to-office mandate. That is a pretty significant number considering that remote flexibility has been a hallmark of many work models. That flexibility has been noted as a benefit for promoting work/life balance, increased hiring equity, and attracting top talent.
While these mandates have been on the rise, there has been a noted lack of transparency around why organisations are suddenly requiring in-person attendance after years of, in many cases, successful remote collaboration and productivity. This lack of clarity is cause for anxiety for many employees who enjoy working remotely and would like concrete reasons for the change.
For those who have been working in person or enjoy working from the office, there is also a lack of clarity around the implementation of these mandates. For example, how are these policies enforced? In many cases, it is a proverbial lottery of distance, requiring people who live within a certain mileage of an office to report in person while those who don’t are able to continue working remotely.
Many respondents who had return-to-office mandates shared similar concerns about these policies.
Main Concerns Around Return-to-Office Mandates
Inconsistent implementation
Loss of flexibility
Feel a lack of trust from leadership
Concerns about decreased talent pool
Majority See Positive Aspects of In-Person Work
87% believe there are positive aspects to working in the office
While it may feel like a lot of people are reluctantly packing up their laptops and heading into the office, the vast majority of those surveyed did see the positive aspects of working in person.
While most of us got comfortable with the more flexible balance of remote work, there admittedly is joy to be found in having conversations in person with colleagues who we have mostly known through a computer screen. While there is a clunkiness to learning how to balance hybrid teams (Do we all go on our computers? How do we reserve conference rooms again?), there is something to be said about the ease of walking over to someone’s desk to ask a question instead of sending a message into the technological abyss and waiting for a reply.
There are undoubtedly pros and cons to both remote and in-person work models, which is why a lot of organisations have settled on the middle ground of hybrid work. As organisations experiment with these mandates and how to fairly enforce them, our respondents reported a variety of reasons for being called back to the office, including increased collaboration, accountability, and the perception that the office is a place for increased productivity.
The Future of Work is Flexible
Regardless of the reason, it does seem that the surge of return-to-office mandates are signalling yet another change in how we work. That said, now that most corporate employees have experienced the benefits of being remote, it is not going to be an easy transition and organisations should continue to put a premium on flexibility in order to retain talent, many of whom have revelled in the increased work/life balance remote and hybrid jobs have created. Especially for people with familial responsibilities, health issues, and diverse geographical locations, remote work has been a game-changer for both employees and the organisations who benefit from an increased pool of talent.
So, while the vast majority of those surveyed see the benefits of in-person work, a whopping 80% also support organisations offering remote work options to employees. This speaks to the fact that the workforce understands the benefits of both work models, and while “old school” thinking says working in person is the best option for collaboration and performance, the vast majority of people see balance as the way of the future.
80% support organizations offering remote work
Top 3 Ways to Navigate Return-to-Office Mandates
Communicate expectations and implement them consistently
Provide concrete reasons
Allow flexibility to build trust
Communication and transparency from organisations and leaders about why changes are made and how they will impact people increases cohesion, wherever you are working, and is how people will bridge the gap as we create a new path forward.
With the right training solutions organisations can foster transparency, clarity, and trust. Our programmes provide the tools for building cohesive, high-performing teams, regardless of where they work, helping leaders inspire collaboration, engagement, and productivity.
At iNOMEE, we offer a range of programmes designed to build a strong, collaborative team culture. From leadership coaching and team-building to neurodiversity and inclusivity training, we ensure that your teams are prepared for the challenges of the modern workplace. Our personalised, action-oriented training equips leaders with the skills to create adaptive, high-performing teams—whether remote, hybrid, or in-office.
Let iNOMEE be your partner in creating a future-proof, collaborative team culture that thrives, no matter where or how your teams work.