Opinion: The Return-to-Office Mandate Is a Mistake

Thomas Burke is a management consultant and former HR executive at a Fortune 100 company.

As another wave of companies issues return-to-office mandates, I find myself wondering: have we learned nothing from the past five years?

The Data Is Clear

Study after study has shown that remote and hybrid workers are at least as productive as their in-office counterparts—and often more so. A Stanford study found remote workers were 13% more productive. Gallup found that hybrid workers report higher engagement and lower burnout.

Yet CEOs continue to insist that “collaboration” and “culture” require physical presence. Allow me to be blunt: this is not supported by evidence.

What’s Really Going On

I’ve spent 25 years in corporate America, and I’ve seen this movie before. The push for return-to-office is driven by:

Control anxiety: Some managers simply don’t trust employees they can’t see

Real estate justification: Companies with expensive leases need to justify them

Generational bias: Many senior executives built their careers in offices and can’t imagine alternatives

Network effects: Those who thrive on in-person networking want everyone back

None of these are good reasons to ignore employee preferences and productivity data.

The Talent Cost

Here’s what companies mandating full-time office work are actually doing:

Losing their best people to competitors offering flexibility
Reducing their talent pool to those who can easily commute
Increasing turnover costs that dwarf any collaboration benefits
Damaging morale among employees who feel their autonomy is being stripped away

A Better Approach

The most successful companies are those offering genuine flexibility:

Outcome-focused management rather than attendance tracking
Intentional collaboration days rather than mandatory presence
Investment in tools that make remote work seamless
Trust in adult employees to manage their own work

The Bottom Line

The pandemic proved that knowledge work doesn’t require physical co-location. Companies that recognize this will attract and retain the best talent. Those that don’t will find themselves wondering why their best people keep leaving.

The future of work is flexible. Companies that fight this reality are simply delaying the inevitable—and losing talent in the process.