Reunited and It’s Not so Good

Ninety-one percent of more than 1,000 responding US workers know someone whose employer has demanded their return to the office since 2023, notes LiveCareer's RTO Realities and Predictions Report. But workplaces that insist on on-site attendance aren't prepared for people to go back. For example, the mandate for US federal workers to return to the office full time went into effect earlier this year despite union leaders reporting that agencies are having difficulties finding physical space for employees. AT&T offices are so clogged that some staff report working in the dining area or conference rooms. Amazon pushed back its premature return-to-office policy due to a need, in part, to reconfigure setups.

In a Business Insider article, Dan Kaplan, senior client partner at Korn Ferry, tells author Tim Paradis that the chaos is due to a specific CEO mentality: "We'll clean up the mess later, but for now, we are ripping that Band-Aid and getting people the heck back in the office, come hell or high water," he says.

On the employee side, there are plenty of reasons besides limited space to be reticent to spend five days per week on-site. Going back to the office means a commute; loss of flexibility; and shelling out for child care, dog walkers, parking fees, and lunches. Those who do return, especially to an unprepared workplace, may face inconveniences or worse—an unwelcome atmosphere. US Department of Education staff encountered hazards such as cords on the floor and wires sticking from walls, causing one woman to injure her foot, reports CNN. For some federal workers, RTO deadlines coincide with layoffs. As Caroline Castrillon writes in Forbes, "Return-to-office mandates lower engagement, morale, productivity and retention—all without benefiting the bottom line."

For many workers, those costs outweigh the ramifications of refusing to leave the comforts of home. More than four-fifths of respondents to the RTO Realities and Predictions Report said they faced consequences for resisting RTO mandates; of those, two-thirds said their companies dismissed them and one-quarter faced formal reprimands.

According to FlexJobs's 2024 Generations at Work Report, the majority of millennials, Gen Xers, and baby boomers prefer to work entirely from home. Some employees wouldn't return even for a significant pay raise—nearly two-thirds of respondents in the RTO Realities and Predictions Report said they would turn down an increase of 15 percent.

Regardless of resistance, individuals remain realistic. Six in 10 US workers believe more companies will eventually require full-time in-person work, notes the LiveCareer study.

"The data reveals a workforce divided on the future of RTO policies, with a majority expecting increased mandates but a significant portion hopeful for continued flexibility," the report explains. "This tension underscores the importance of aligning organizational strategies with evolving employee expectations."