You’d think the RTO power struggle would have been put to rest by now since the pandemic began to cool off. But with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy just recently announcing employees will need to report five days a week into the office, it seems RTO is still a contentious subject. Pushback has been strong from Amazon employees, and just recently Dell also let its employees know with very little notice that they will also implement a five-day-a-week RTO. 

While employees have made it staunchly clear they prefer remote work, most leaders are banking on full-time in-office work making a complete and emphatic comeback in a few years.

Seeing that some level of onsite work will be the norm for many employees, we turned to some of the brightest minds in the HR and People space ahead for their thoughts on what they believe are best practices for businesses transitioning from remote to in office in order to avoid squandering employee engagement.

What Do You Consider Best Practices When It Comes To Implementing RTO? 

Dave S. (Chief People Officer at a F500): Spend less time on what days people should be in the office and more time on why people should be in the office.  It's not really about having lunch and afternoon drinks available, it 's about working together, solving problems that require interactivity, developing connections, and onboarding new team members.  Try to create some FOMO (fear of missing out) when it comes to being in the office. You want to pull them in, not push them in.  

Ultimately, have a reason that is business based and not just the whim of senior leadership, and then clearly and transparently express that.  Maybe it's for a big meeting, or a customer pitch, or a focus on culture.

Michael Salamey (Chief People Officer at a leader in real estate technology company): Advanced notice and a staggered approach. The more heads up, setting, and reminding of expectations, the better. Have a plan for who is expected back when and what cadence (2, 3, 5, days per week--all at once or 2 days for 4 weeks, then 3 days, etc.).

Kristina K. (SVP of People at a high growth startup): When planning RTO, it’s essential first to clarify the goals behind it and avoid applying a “one size fits all” solution. Different roles and levels of experience require distinct approaches. Unproductive behavior can occur in any environment, whether at home or in the office. Instead, monitoring work outcomes and setting clear expectations should be key.

What Do You Do To Lower People’s Anxieties About Coming Into The Office?

DS: This was a big issue coming out of the pandemic, and not such an issue now.  I focus more on "earning the commute;” our team is sacrificing time, expenses, and having to get dressed. For what end are they making that sacrifice? If they understand the gain, then it is less of an issue.

MS: Show empathy. When returning to office, some people have to prepare to cover daycare expenses again, or to re-traumatize and reacclimate pets to being abandoned/left alone for long periods again.

Change core hours or allow flexibility. Returning to Office does not have to mean, "for 10 hours per day". Go to the office for the mandatory fun event or captive audience meetings collaboration that is so important to the CEO everyone. For many people, the drudgery of going back to the office is synonymous with the drudgery of rush hour traffic. Let the office day be 10am to 3pm (for example) instead of 9am to 6pm, so team members can avoid the worst traffic.

Make the office worth returning to. The draw of working from home is having access to preferred amenities, food, break times, outdoor time, etc. It's the freedom to work when you are at your peak, take a break when needed without fear of judgment, step away to refresh, and use the bathroom without hearing or smelling someone next to you or seeing the remnants of whoever was before you. Some people just don't want to go back to that, though it's tough to imagine why for the CEO who has a private bathroom.

What Are Your Thoughts On Amazon’s Move To Bring Its Employees In 5 Days A Week?

DS: Amazon has every right to make the decisions they make (especially since the majority of the workforce is required to be in their workplace most days), but I think they missed on the why.  No data, no purpose, just a CEO telling them it was required.

MS: Fundamentally stupid A myopic approach. I get it. The CEO and senior executives are like the popular kids at the dance. Everyone wants to see and please them. They love being popular, desired, and visibly sought after. 

Like many senior leaders, I oversee the People Operations of employees across 39 states and five countries. There is nothing I do from the office that I can't and don't do remotely, regularly (it doesn't matter if I attend a Teams meeting from home, Starbucks, or the office as long as I have a good mic and earbuds). My office is next to the CEO and COO, and I can tell you, when people are in my office, it's almost always because they were walking to the CEO or COO's office, saw the door was closed and didn't want to look stupid walking back. So, they step in my office and waste 40 minutes of my time while waiting for my counterparts to become available.

If there is a true, proven, business need for people to collaborate in person (such as surgeons or a football team), then of course it makes sense for them to be in person. Otherwise, it limits the talent pool, reduces creativity (because it limits the talent pool), increases stress (from traveling, preparing for work, waking up earlier to get to the office, etc. which also reduces creativity and the desire to collaborate), forces work during traditional hours which may not be ideal for the business or the individual, and has proven detrimental effects on physical and mental health (people tend to eat healthier and enjoy more exercise when working from home). 

 How Do You Balance Employee Sentiment Around A Remote Work Preference With The Need For In-Person Collaboration?

DS:  Ultimately it is about business results, and if you can tie the two together. Then you can explain why you are making the adjustment.  I think that a version of Hybrid is the likely designation, but CEOs are still going to drive towards the office. 

MS:  Flexibility is key. 

Identify if there is an actual need for in-person collaboration or if it is ego-desire to be seen. Or simply reluctance to design meaningful collaboration and effortful communication over casual conversation.

Employees want freedom, trust, and flexibility to meet the modern world. That means some prefer working together in-office, and some do not. If you want the best team, you must meet them where they are, or someone else will.

Also, traditionally minded leaders need to get over the idea that remote work is something new, novel, or nuanced. For hundreds of years before the Industrial Age, all work was remote work. All the way up to the 1950's, most salespeople, photographers, craftsmen, rail workers, artists, etc. were trusted every day to go out, without the use of any electronic tethering or monitoring services, and do their jobs, and they built our entire modern nation on an ethic of trust, collaboration from afar, and strong work ethic.

It might be the long tail, but to remain viable and relevant for the future workforce, companies like Amazon, Disney, Salesforce, and others must accept that work is something you do, not someplace you go, and relieve themselves of the notion that remote work is a fad. It's actually the foundation of work.

KK (thinking about the question from a junior and senior employee standpoint): It’s tough for junior employees to develop critical skills without the in-person mentorship, social interactions, and organic learning that happen in an office setting. The spontaneous conversations, feedback, and informal guidance are fundamental to professional growth.

However, if senior employees are working remotely, junior staff might feel isolated. Solutions to this include organizing collaborative meetings in person, holding quarterly off sites to strengthen team connections, and implementing mentorship programs where mentors are incentivized to meet in person with their mentees.

No Right Answers, Just Ones That Work For You

So as you can see, there exists a great deal of diversity in how many of the esteemed leaders above think about RTO. Hopefully, there is something here you can extrapolate from these answers that may allow you to better implement RTO if you are thinking about migrating employees to some level of onsite work. 

If you need a leg up on gauging where your employees are at before the move, consider Worksense as a solution in doing so.