Five years after the start of the pandemic-driven work-from-home (WFH) phenomenon, the return to office (RTO) trend is gathering pace. Some organizations are mandating a full return while others are enforcing a minimum number of days in the workplace.
Not surprisingly, many employees are pushing back, and who can blame them after five years without an expensive and time-consuming commute and the ultimate in work-life balance? But are employers missing a trick by focusing solely on a mass return of staff to the same office environment they left behind?
Company plans to implement RTO policies are driven largely by concerns about productivity, face-to-face collaboration and workplace culture. Figures from KPMG found that 83% of U.K. CEOs expect to see a full return to the office within three years.
Some organizations are taking a hardline approach, monitoring attendance and using the data gathered in performance and pay reviews. Others are linking RTO compliance with bonuses, potentially reducing or withholding them from those who don’t meet attendance expectations.
Workspaces that people want
It could be argued that there is a right way and a wrong way to encourage staff to return to the office, and many businesses have a valid rationale for wanting some employees to be more present, but ultimatums don’t tend to sit well. However, as RTO policies continue to roll out, some companies are taking a different approach and going to greater lengths to create workspaces that people will want to use.
Some are experimenting with ways to draw reluctant employees back by utilizing flexible workspaces to bring people together and create better environments. Initially, the goal was to reduce their fixed costs by having more flexible space, however, a growing number are now embracing this flexibility to create more dedicated and welcoming places for their people to come.
A new return to office work culture
Stephen Cohen, CEO of New York City-based coworking space Nomadworks, has seen a rise in corporate clients looking to use his spaces as dedicated work environments.
He says: “Companies are realizing that the office must offer something people can’t get at home, in essence, community and hospitality. The isolation of Zoom calls and the Covid era has shown us that real collaboration needs a structured, creative, and social environment.”
Historically, he adds, previous RTO waves have been driven more by mandates or policy changes.
“Companies that just reopened offices without reimagining them saw higher disengagement, while some companies returned after Covid acting as though nothing had happened,” says Cohen. “The new work culture demands increased collaboration and work-life balance, supported by a more hospitality-focused work environment, centered around teams. The 9-to-5 mindset has been replaced; employees now want flexibility, as well as environments that enhance their work, not just house it. That is where coworking comes in.”
Curated work environments
It seems that space is no longer just real estate. It is an experience that includes amenities, community building, hospitality and networking. Forward thinking companies are treating the office as a curated environment, blending work, culture, and social connection. Teams no longer want a static desk; they want spaces that adapt to and flex the type of work they’re doing that day.
And it is a concept that is resonating with employers and their staff. As challenger bank Monzo continues to grow its presence in the U.S., flexibility has been key to its progress. Executive operations manager Michelle DeMateo says: “We needed a space that could support both in-person collaboration and the realities of a hybrid, distributed team. Nomadworks gave us the ability to scale thoughtfully without making a hard choice between fully remote or fully in-office. That flexibility aligns perfectly with how we operate at Monzo; empowering teams to do their best work, wherever they are.”
RTO is a nuanced issue that touches on many aspects of work and the role it plays in people’s lives. For example, in the drive to get people back in the office, generational differences are often overlooked, as Amy Sawbridge, owner of Sawbridge Consulting, explains.
She says: “Younger generations are more likely to have issues with sufficient space to work at home and the cost of commuting. Younger generations tend to have an increased sense of boundaries and discretionary effort and less comfort with social interactions. How do we enable more junior employees to learn from others through proximity?”
Those companies that are getting it right are not really focusing on RTO, which frames the office as a chore, rather than a catalyst, says Chase Garbarino, CEO and founder of real estate software firm HqO.
“The best teams are investing in environments that bring people together for collaboration, creativity, and culture-building,” he says. “It’s not because someone said, ‘you must’, but because that’s where the magic happens, especially in an age where AI is taking over the task work. If your people are just sitting alone at a desk, you’ve already lost.”
Hardline RTO mandates will also impact the talent pool. Underperforming staff will be weeded out, but there is the risk that it will also deter valuable talent. New research shows that 46% of U.S. remote and hybrid workers said that they were unlikely to stay at their jobs if a full RTO was to be implemented.
Sawbridge questions whether a demanding RTO simply reflects an inability to properly manage performance. “There’s a tendency to forget about all the roles that are field-based or international,” she says. “We’ve been dealing with this type of distance relationship for a long time but seem to have reinvented this as a new issue.”
The human factor
The decisions behind most RTO plans appear to have been commercial and logistical rather than emotional. The reality is that humans are social beings, and the physical environment has a huge impact on people, shaping their mood, energy, and even purpose.
Garbarino adds: “Working alongside others fuels creativity, sharpens thinking, and builds trust. That’s not a ‘perk’; it is core to performance. And as AI gets better at doing the routine and the repeatable, the uniquely human skills; empathy, strategy, storytelling, and decision-making, become even more valuable. You don’t unlock that over Zoom.
“The future office isn’t just a place to work, it’s a place to become better at what you do because you’re around others. That means better design, better tech and better hospitality. It also means rethinking how AI fits in because as AI takes over tasks, the office needs to be where people become more strategic, more creative and more valuable. That’s how you make the office matter again.”
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