On Return-to-office policies (follow the data)
A critical examination of Return-to-Office policies and the need for inclusive flexibility
There are reasons why companies want you to return to the office and none of them have to do with “collaboration” or “building a sense of belonging”.
The unfortunate reality is that the push for returning to the office (RTO) is primarily driven by commercial property values (which could result in significant financial losses for property owners or businesses with significant real estate investments) and outdated management styles (which assume employees require constant supervision to remain productive).
RTO policies represent an antiquated view of productivity and employee well-being. The calls for a part-time or full-time return to the workplace appear to ignore empirical data highlighting the negative impacts of traditional open-plan offices on employees' physiological stress levels, productivity, and creativity. Physical conditions have an impact on psychological and physical states, and various areas of work need us to be in various cognitive, emotional, and physical states throughout the day.
Open-plan office noise contributes greatly to physiological stress, and when employees are unable to focus due to noise or interruptions, they become less collaborative. Contrary to popular belief, placing all employees in a single location does not inevitably improve collaboration and innovation. How do we meet the needs of all the people who have various needs (a few examples are provided below)?
Caregivers, typically women, require flexible schedules to manage their responsibilities, which rigid return-to-office policies ignore.
People with disabilities face challenges due to a lack of accessibility and accommodation, which remote work often solves.
Introverts, too, are better served in environments that respect their need for solitude.
The debate over office versus home (or anyplace) work misses the mark. Instead, the emphasis should be on creating work environments in which individuals can thrive optimally. Dr. Libby Sander's work can teach you more about these states. Dr. Sanders created a scale that found three crucial physical workplace responses: attention, beauty, and connectedness. LinkedIn's San Francisco office, which offers 75 various sorts of work settings catering to diverse job needs, is an example of good workspace variation, but most importantly, the topic of office return should be a consensual agreement between the people who do the work.