The corporate drumbeat for workers to get “back to the office” is getting louder.
Tech titans, banking giants and Fortune 500 CEOs keep issuing return-to-office mandates, hedging bets that forcing people back four to five days a week in the office will spark a culture of collaboration and productivity.
But let’s cut through the noise: dragging employees kicking and screaming back into cubicles for optics, power, and control isn’t leadership—it’s a big gamble that risks morale, the bottom line, and trust.
Remote Work Isn’t a Pandemic Perk—it’s the New Baseline
Research from Gallup shows that 51% of U.S. employees in remote-capable jobs are hybrid, 28% are fully remote, and just 21% are back full-time in the office. And fewer than 10% actually want a five-day office week.
Interestingly, in a presumable data-driven decision-making corporate world, the numbers tell a story leaders can’t and shouldn’t ignore – yet here we are.
According to Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, who has studied remote work for over a decade, “Workers have tasted freedom, and they’re not giving it back.”
Bloom conducted a randomized control study of 1,600 workers and found that hybrid work had zero effect on workers’ productivity or career advancement yet dramatically boosted retention rates.
Further evidence from a US Bureau of Labour Statistics analysis found that even a one-point rise in remote work is linked to measurable productivity gains.
The old “face time equals performance” myth is officially dead. So then why are we demanding workers’ RTO?
The Office Irony: Zoom With a Side of Traffic
Return to the office for collaboration? Reality looks different. Step into many offices today and you’ll find employees in noise-cancelling headsets—on video calls. As noted in Bloomberg, workers are “back in the office, just to sit on Zoom.”
If employers demand that workers battle traffic, pay more to show up, and then spend the day logging into online calls, they shouldn’t expect engagement—they should expect eye rolls.
Mandating that experience breaks the psychological contract, eroding trust and loyalty instead of building culture, it just doesn’t make sense.
Hot-Desking: The Silent Culture Killer
Another miss? Hot-desking. Many companies reduced their office spaces during the pandemic to cut costs. Now, instead of flipping the script and finding more real estate for the ROT mandate—they’re facing a self-made crisis—there is no space.
The number of employees forced into hot desking has doubled since 2020. While it may trim some real estate costs, it also strips away stability. The share of employees forced into not having a dedicated workspace has doubled to 20% since 2020. While it trims real estate costs, it also strips away stability.
As the Wall Street Journal reported, “Why would workers want to come into the office for less comfortable setups than those at home?”
It’s a no-brainer—poorly designed shared spaces reduce productivity and makes employees feel disposable. That’s not culture; that’s chaos.
Leaders: Stop Commanding, Start Creating
Here’s the truth: culture can’t be mandated. It must be built. Leaders serious about making RTO work should focus on three bold shifts:
Design for Experience – Create spaces worth the commute: collaborative hubs, focus zones, meaningful perks. If the office experience improved, people would enjoy returning – so make it happen.
Ditch One-Size-Fits-All. If you want to break whatever psychological safety exists in your culture, be warned—blanket mandates erode trust. Workers want flexibility, so be flexible—it will drive employee buy-in.
Model the Behavior—If you’re a leader calling for in-person collaboration, show up! Don’t dial in while your team commutes in.
Bottom Line
The office isn’t dead — but the command-and-control playbook is.
Workers today can thrive remotely – remember the pandemic?
The leaders who want people back in the office perhaps to feed some internal desire for control are missing the mark, the question isn’t,’ How do you force it?’ It’s how to make coming back irresistible?
Flexibility isn’t a perk. It’s the deal.
Break it and you risk breaking your team at the same time. There is a middle ground – find it.