Leadership Mistakes in Return to Office Plans

A Return To Office mandate is a funny thing. A trade-off of lower workforce productivity, morale, retention, engagement, and trust in exchange for...managers feeling more in control. It's more a sign of insecurity and incompetence than sound decision-making. The fact that 80% of executives who have pushed for RTO mandates have later regretted their decision only makes the point further, and yet every few months more leaders line up to pad this statistic. In case your leaders have forgotten, return to office mandates are associated with: 🔻 16% lower intent to stay among the highest-performing employees (Gartner) 🔻 10% less trust, psychological safety, and relationship quality between workers and their managers (Great Place to Work) 🔻 22% of employees from marginalized groups becoming more likely to search for new jobs (Greenhouse) 🔻 No significant change in financial performance while guaranteeing damage to employee satisfaction (Ding and Ma, 2024) The thing is, we KNOW how to do hybrid work well at this point. 🎯 Allow teams to decide on in-person expectations, and hold people accountable to it—high flexibility; high accountability. 🎯 Make in-person time unique and valuable, with brainstorming, events, and culture-building activities—not video calls all day in the office. 🎯 Value outcomes, not appearances, of productivity—reward those who get their work done regardless of where they do it. 🎯 Train inclusive managers, not micromanagers—build in them the skills and confidence to lead with trust rather than fear and insecurity. Leaders that fly in the face of all this data to insist that workers return to office "OR ELSE" communicate one thing: they are the kinds of leaders that place their own egos and comfort above their shareholders and employees alike. Faced with the very real test of how to design the hybrid workforce of the future, these leaders chose to throw a tantrum in their bid to return to the past, and their organizations will suffer for it. The leaders that will thrive in this time? Those that are willing to do the work. Those that are willing to listen to their workforce, skill up to meet new needs, and claim their rewards in the form of the best talent, higher productivity, and the highest level of worker loyalty and trust. Will that be you?

Recent data indicates that 25% of companies have strategically leveraged return-to-office policies as a method to reduce staff without formal layoffs, thereby avoiding severance payments. Additionally, 63% of C-suite leaders acknowledge that these policies have disproportionately driven women to resign, revealing a significant oversight in their implementation. This sex-disparity in attrition is troubling, especially when considering that employees from historically underrepresented groups are 22% more likely to consider leaving their companies if flexibility is withdrawn. As a result, 42% of companies enforcing these mandates are facing higher-than-expected attrition, a clear sign that employers underestimated the value employees place on flexible work. Forcing a remote worker from Ohio to relocate to a New York office without providing relocation support or a pay increase is like a game of musical chairs. When the music stops, the Ohio-based employee is left without a seat, effectively pushed out. Meanwhile, those in New York are left juggling twice the workload, all under the guise of promoting collaboration and efficiency. This approach not only disrupts individual lives but also strains the existing workforce, challenging the very goals it claims to achieve. #humanresources #hr #Leadership #management #WorkLifeBalance #Innovation #CareerGrowth

☠️ Why Mandated RTO is a Leadership Fail Return-to-office mandates often feel like a fear-based response—fear of change, fear of losing control, and fear of letting go of the familiar. But clinging to old frameworks, like office real estate, isn’t leadership. Leading is about looking ahead, not doubling back to the past. The common justifications for RTO—collaboration and face time—don’t hold up to scrutiny. If connection is the goal, why not invest your office lease money in bringing remote teams together more often in dynamic, diverse settings that foster creativity and innovation? And let’s talk about talent. Are you optimizing for the best talent or the best logistics? Limiting your team to a commutable radius doesn’t just leave untapped potential on the table—it hands the competitive advantage of securing the best talent to your competitors. The data speaks for itself: 📊 A Stanford study found that remote workers are 13% more productive and experience a 50% lower attrition rate than their in-office peers. 📊 FlexJobs reports that 80% of remote workers feel more engaged when working remotely, and 90% say remote work is a top factor in deciding whether to stay at a company. 📊 The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics observed productivity increases across 61 industries as remote work became more common. Leadership isn’t about enforcing old norms. It’s about building a future that works—for your people and your business. That future is flexible, intentional, and focused on outcomes, not outdated traditions. Mandated RTO is a failure of imagination—and imagination is what defines great leaders. So, what kind of leader are you? #Leadership #FutureOfWork #RemoteWork #Retention #EmployeeEngagement

What happens when return-to-office mandates ignore the data? According to a Barron’s report, JPMorgan Chase’s own internal survey—completed by 90% of its workforce—shows employee sentiment has dropped significantly since the full return-to-office policy began in March. The lowest-scoring areas? 🔻 Work-life balance 🔻 Health and well-being 🔻 Internal mobility While CEO Jamie Dimon remains convinced that the company performs better in person, the workforce is signaling something different—and it’s time we pay attention. Full return-to-office mandates are not only outdated—they're risky. What I see is that all generations are now expecting some level of flexibility, and when leaders dismiss that shift, morale declines and attrition rises. Top talent doesn't just disengage. They start making exit plans. As HR and business leaders, we must do two things: 1️⃣ Reevaluate the ROI of in-office presence. If the goal is collaboration, innovation, or mentorship, then measure those outcomes—not attendance. Proximity without purpose is not strategy. 2️⃣ Design flexibility as a business accelerator, not a perk. Flexibility, when done right, fuels productivity, autonomy, and trust. It's not about letting people off the hook. It's about giving them the tools and conditions to do their best work. Here’s the hard truth: People don’t resist coming to the office. They resist coming back to systems that ignore their lives, their input, and their evolving expectations. How would you react if your company had a RTO mandate? #FutureOfWork #ReturnToOffice #HRLeadership #WorkplaceStrategy #HybridWork #EmployeeExperience #WellbeingAtWork #LIPostingDayJune