Return to office: are companies mandates of RTO working?

The Return to office movement continues to spark debate in the U.S. Companies, as they must balance employee satisfaction and strategic needs.

Following the significant growth of telecommuting in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees do not want to give up their acquired flexibility and are reluctant to return to the office. 

Lack of motivation, loss of qualified talent or loss of productivity are some of the consequences of back to office (RTO) mandates. 

We are going to dedicate this article to help you understand what The Great Return to Office is, the implications it has for companies, and what strategies you can use to implement it successfully.   

What is The Great Return to Office after COVID?

The Great Return to Office after COVID-19 is a corporate policy whereby some companies are promoting and incentivizing a return to a face-to-face way of working after years of telecommuting as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The reasons behind this return, which largely began in 2024, are underpinned by a desire to increase collaboration among employees and work toward building a stronger, more cohesive company culture.

Consequently, some leaders see these measures as necessary to drive innovation, improve oversight, and increase productivity. 

However, this dynamic is being met with opposition from a significant portion of employees who do not want to lose the advantages gained from the flexibility of remote work.

Thus, companies and employees must find a positive balance for all, such as hybrid work, among other measures, in some cases.

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Why are companies forcing return to office?

The reasons why companies are forcing their employees back to the office after years of teleworking are varied and depend on the nature of each company, its philosophy and type of leadership. 

Among the most common causes are the following:

• Supervision and control of productivity. 

In some cases, leaders are more comfortable supervising the activity of their employees closely because they are unfamiliar with remote team management techniques. 

On the other hand, while teleworking can help increase productivity by creating environments more conducive to concentration that limit stimuli on the employee, it can also reduce it when the employee does not have the possibility of ensuring adequate conditions for the performance of their activity.

• Boosting innovation.  

This argument that justifies for some the return to the office is based on the fact that face-to-face interactions, and even casual encounters in the hallway or other office settings, encourage the transmission of ideas and foster creativity. 

• Reinforcement of the company culture. 

Managers and Human Resources (HR) experts who advocate the RTO argue that physical presence reinforces the organizational culture and the transmission of company values between older employees and younger or newcomers.

• Real estate justifications. 

Another reason why a company may request the return of its equipment to its premises is that it may have long-term leases with the owners of the offices, or that it owns the property.

By having vacant facilities, it loses profitability and these spaces become an economic burden.

Is return to office working?

In view of what we have just discussed, the question is, are you returning to office working? The success of RTO mandates depends on the organization’s priorities. 

For example, if an organization focuses on company culture, the face-to-face or hybrid models seem, according to the experts consulted, to yield better results. 

However, if the project prioritizes productivity over other areas, either a face-to-face or remote model can boost productivity, depending on the sector or type of tasks, and provided that employees have the right tools and resources to work with. 

In any case, to find out which model is best for your project, you can use success indicators that analyze 3 basic aspects closely linked to talent evaluation: 

1. Employee engagement. It helps define an employee’s relationship with the organization on a physical, emotional and cognitive level, and is based on efficient communication and active listening to the feedback, needs and assessments of the teams.
2. Employee performance. Evaluating performance will allow you to increase the potential of your employees in the most appropriate direction, placing them at the center of your decisions so that they can highlight their strengths. 
3. Employee turnover. This is a crucial indicator when it comes to assessing employee satisfaction and has an important impact on your business. If this indicator is high, the competitiveness and continuity of your project may be compromised.

Return to office policy: challenges 2025

2025 will continue to be a year of great challenges concerning return to office mandates, as 2024 has already been. 

Among the significant challenges that companies are going to face concerning the implementation of pure or hybrid RTO policies, the following stand out: 

• Reluctance of employees with respect to wasting time on commuting, greater difficulty in reconciling their family and professional life, or increased costs in transportation and per diems that may be involved in returning to the office. 
• Risk of losing qualified talent, especially in sectors such as technology, where companies compete for the best profiles, offering them all kinds of advantages to attract them. 
• Increased mental fatigue that can lead to disaffection with the organization and increase the turnover of qualified personnel.  

Return to office mandates: strategies for a successful RTO

As we have been discovering, it is imperative to work to defuse employees’ reluctance to RTO. 

To help you achieve this, here are some of the strategies recommended by HR specialists that can serve as a starting point for adapting them to your project:

• Create an adapted communication strategy. 

To face any change in your company, it is necessary that the communication is transparent and clear to reduce the distrust of your employees, and that it emphasizes the advantages of these changes.

• Be flexible and customize your proposals. 

Evaluate different models (telecommuting, hybrid job or face-to-face) according to job functions and people’s needs. 

This requires a detailed evaluation of job descriptions, as well as a strategy of active listening to your employees.

• Incentivize your teams. 

Emotional salary is sometimes better valued by the most demanding profiles than the salary amount and can be a great tool to make the return to office more attractive. 

Offering vouchers for transportation or food, or providing free childcare, gym, etc. can be very beneficial resources in this regard.

• Improve your remote monitoring systems. 

If what drives you to request the RTO of your teams is the inability to perform effective, objective and non-invasive monitoring, technology can help you. 

At Smowltech, we invite you to discover our proctoring plans, remote monitoring solutions that are flexible and respect the regulations regarding privacy and digital security of individuals.

They are also a good tool to promote inclusiveness.You can request a free demo that will allow you to discover how to put innovation and effectiveness at your service.

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