Can Companies Justify a Return-to-Office Mandate?

It is a classic case of employer-employee misalignment. Over 81% of employees in a recent survey indicated that they enjoyed working from home. Yet, 79% of the survey respondents believe their employers expect them to revert to in-office work soon. That begs the question: Can companies justify a return-to-office mandate?

It’s been two years since life felt normal. 

COVID-weary employers and employees have had to adapt. Conservative businesses resistant to remote working quickly emulated their progressive counterparts by rolling out tools and policies that promoted virtual work. The extent of the swing in workplace trends and attitudes has been far beyond anything anyone could have predicted.

Irrespective of which side of the future-of-work fence you are on, you can find statistics and arguments that encourage or discourage the notion of post-pandemic remote work. However, there is no denying that the pandemic has shown that remote working at scale can be successful and even desirable for many companies.

As businesses struggle to balance back-to-normalcy and the effects of Omicron-like variants, the shape of the future of work is in question. The workplace ecosystem of employers, employees, customers, policies, and tools all play essential parts in the sustainability of the future of work.

So, here are five workplace trends to consider before implementing the future of work strategy for your team. 

Empowered employees

Perhaps the most baffling turn of events the pandemic has brought about is the Great Resignation. The idea that employees would be willing to walk away from their livelihoods without apparent alternatives is still fuzzy in most people’s minds. Globally, employees seem to have realized that there is more to life than work. Irrespective of the reasons, it still begs the question: Don’t they have bills to pay and mouths to feed?

There is no doubt that employees in specific industries such as health, hospitality, retail, and tech feel more empowered. The demand for their skills is up. Some see work-from-home or hybrid work (part office-part home) as a right and are willing to look at alternatives if they are forced back to the office. That’s not surprising. The work-from-home model has saved money for many and significantly improved their family time.

Progressive employers

Return-to-office mandates are not for progressive companies. While many businesses have implemented choice-based in-office work, some others appear to be heading back to less flexible pre-COVID work models.

The pandemic has proven that organization-wide remote working can work for most companies. Distributed work has transcended borders. “Remote” is where the employee is. In most cases, all an employee needs is an internet connection. It saves commute time and money for employees. It saves infrastructure and operational costs for employers.

When it makes sense, relinquishing centralized control in favour of empowered and accountable employees is the way of the future. The sense of belonging, wellbeing, and other social aspects of in-office work cannot be forced upon employees. It is for them to feel and want. 

Quality-focused customers

The world has become more tolerant.

The pandemic has shown that not every business interaction is critical and requires a race to the bottom. Businesses have realized that quality-focused customers are willing to pay more for good products and services. Less focus on price has meant fewer discounts and waivers. Chasing the topline does not have to come at the expense of the bottom line.

As customers, we attribute higher prices for everyday items to supply chain issues. Service deliveries took longer, but we blamed it on staff shortages. Dogs barking, babies crying, and cooking sounds did not elicit frowns from our customers and coworkers.  

Customers demand seamless and timely delivery of the products and services they purchase. They are less concerned about where their partners are located. 

Happy customers and motivated employees are not mutually exclusive. 

Flexible policies

It is true; businesses have never been more employee-friendly. 

As employees converted bedrooms and living rooms to home offices, companies have had to backtrack on stringent work-from-home requirements and policies of the pre-pandemic era. A robust future of work plan is incomplete without policies and executive buy-in that support it. Well-understood, employee-friendly, documented procedures set expectations around how work gets done and delivered in a hybrid environment. Progressive policies, such as work-from-anywhere, help fill open positions from a global talent pool. However, the challenges of weeding out fake talent and maintaining the security and confidentiality of proprietary information should not be underestimated.

Company work policies cannot be developed in isolation of evolving employee needs. Meeting the expectations of good employees means meeting them where they are. 

Purpose-built tools

Ultimately, there is no denying that digital tools and software-based solutions are the backbone of the future of work.

Standardized tools help limit context switching and time lost to interruptions. It is time to displace monolithic non-integrated applications with work and productivity management tools purpose-built to support distributed teams, centralized sources of information, and asynchronous communications. 

Employees are considerably more tech-savvy than they were before the pandemic struck. Most have become accustomed to cloud-based tools and applications. Tools traditionally used for real-time communications can be augmented with features and capabilities that facilitate asynchronous yet effective communications.

Having said all that, we do want our cities and their office buildings to be reborn as the thriving hubs of commerce, social interactions, and entertainment that they once were. If people stayed at home, that would not happen. 

Under the current global environment, it is hard to justify a return-to-office mandate. A hybrid work environment that meets the employees’ requirements while meeting the company’s business objectives would be the way to go.