Why Return to Office is Still a Sore Subject

If you build it (with them in mind) they will come!

Roughly three years after the actual "Return to Office (RTO)" and we are still hearing about massive companies struggling with realities of RTO. Large corporations are enforcing a minimum of 4-5 in-office days per week. Employees are enraged by the suggestion that returning to work is "essential to business operations and collaboration" because we know that's simply not true. We all know that companies celebrated their highest profits during the pandemic when everyone was "collaborating" just fine from home. 

While I am not here to weigh in on my personal opinions on the matter, I feel that a lot of opposition comes from employees not wanting to commute, and pay for gas and tolls, the expense of dry cleaning, and cafeteria lunches (and the list goes on...). Employees have been making this effort often only to find themselves sitting alone in their cubicle all day 'collaborating' in virtual meetings. 

So if employees are being "dragged" into the office under the guise of organizations "fostering better collaboration" how do we actually achieve a solution that actually moves the needle towards better collaboration? 

Well for starters, we need to take the time to really LEARN from our employees. We need to learn what they need for success, what type of work they prefer to do when they're at home, what they do when they are in the office, who they need to talk to when they're there, what tools they need to be successful... We need to stop assuming that they are effectively collaborating just because they are in the office because the truth of the matter is that most people are still collaborating virtually after spending time and money commuting! It's no wonder employees are outraged!

The return to office concept shouldn't be the enemy though! Workplaces need to evolve with the needs of business and right now leadership teams need to invest in creating an environment that works for their people in 2025; what worked for them in 2019 is not longer relevant.

The Experience Group has the tools to help your organization listen to your people, understand your high level business objectives and formulate a data driven plan to create a workplace where people WANT to go to be effective.