The push to bring employees back to the office is gaining momentum, years after the remote work revolution took hold. The trend toward remote work continues to accelerate, with over a quarter of U.S. paid workdays projected to be worked from home in 2024. That hasn’t stopped the worst actors from doubling down on RTOs. We know from research that male and CEO friends are more likely to adopt these mandates in their companies. This inevitably leads to lowered worker morale and increased time to fill replacement employees. Alongside some other leading companies, including H&R Block, they’re abandoning their company-wide return-to-office policies. They’re investing in team-specific approaches that emphasize flexibility, which is key to attracting and retaining top talent.

Mark Ma’s research was based on the analysis of millions of Glassdoor job reviews. It uncovered a strong connection between RTO mandates and lower employee morale.

We found return-to-office mandates are more likely in firms with male and powerful CEOs. - Mark Ma

Ma also posits that some executives might be losing to desire to control the employee more when they are spending time at home.

They are used to working in the office for five days a week. And they feel that they are losing control over their employees who are working from home. - Mark Ma

The data indicates that companies enforcing RTO policies are more likely to experience employee attrition, particularly among women, highly skilled workers, and senior employees.

But we do find significant evidence that return-to-office mandates hurt employee job satisfaction. - Mark Ma

One of the companies that went all in on an RTO first, H&R Block, recently announced it was walking back its policy. In 2021, the tax services behemoth commanded corporate employees back to the office full time, three days a week. They soon abandoned the plan after hearing from their employees. Starting in 2024, moving to allow individual teams to set their own office attendance requirements.

The irony is that the competition for remote jobs is fierce. Considering that just 20% of job postings on LinkedIn are for remote or hybrid positions, employees have a difficult time finding other work options should they fail to support their organization’s return-to-office plan. For many, the office is just better suited for their work. Clinton Stamper is at his best in an office full of people. It allows him to concentrate better and work with his coworkers more productively.

I was excited to get in there and just do some work in person with all my teammates. - Clinton Stamper

Businesses under new RTO policies just took double the time to hire, implying these mandates can drive would-be hires away. Some companies are suspected of using RTO mandates as a "back channel layoff," hoping the policy will incentivize employees to quit. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has stated that the company's five-day RTO policy was not intended to drive people to resign.

Experts suggest that the increasing aging population and shrinking workforce may force employers to offer more flexible work arrangements to attract and retain talent.

The population is aging, and our workforce is set to shrink. - Kory Kantenga

As that shrinks, employers are going to have to do more to attract employees, and offering flexible work might be the thing that they have to do. - Kory Kantenga

One aspect of the debate around RTO policies has been the overall negative economic impact on businesses dependent on a strong base of office workers.

Food trucks, laundry services — there are a lot of businesses that depend on workers in the office. - Kory Kantenga

Other experts are more cautious about adopting RTO as the ideal solution to multifaceted organizational challenges.

And at the end of the day, there's a lot of people talking about RTO as a very simple answer for fixing a lot of very complicated and complex problems within organizations. - Sam Spurlin

So maybe it has a role in certain environments and in certain cases done thoughtfully. But if we think we're going to kind of wave the magic RTO wand and fix some really fundamental problems in our organizations, we're going to be pretty disappointed. - Sam Spurlin