Weighing the risks and benefits of enforcing RTO policies

Integrating flexible work arrangements, such as a hybrid schedule, could meet the needs of both the company and the workforce with far less disruption.

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In a post-pandemic workplace, one topic on which many employers and workers cannot agree is how to create return-to-office (RTO) policies that suit both the company’s and its employees’ needs.

In March, MyPerfectResume published the 2024 Return to Office Survey, which polled more than 4,200 U.S. workers on their feelings about returning to onsite work. The results shed light on what employees think are the motivations behind the newly formed RTO mandates and made it clear that it might be harder for companies to return to pre-pandemic “business as usual” practices than they initially thought.

Here, we unpack the survey findings to offer HR leaders a glimpse into the impact of RTO policies on worker attitudes, the risks companies face in enforcing strict RTO policies, and some potential strategies companies can employ to mitigate those risks.

Perks won’t persuade workers to RTO

To set the stage for what companies face regarding RTO policies, let’s start with workers’ attitudes about returning to onsite work. The survey found that 40% of participants reported that their employer wants to increase office attendance. In many cases, heading back to work isn’t optional, with 28% reporting that their employer has threatened to fire workers who don’t comply.

Despite the threat of job loss, workers don’t want to go. The report highlights that 36% of employees state that no perk could justify a full-time return to the office, which shows how strongly they prioritize work flexibility. This includes perks that would have been considered high-value pre-pandemic, including unlimited PTO and a four-day workweek. When weighing the value of various benefits against the value of remote work, the most compelling perks were fuel reimbursement (50%) and health insurance (47%). Still, neither would persuade most people to return to onsite work.

Workers believe RTO policies are a method of control and a sign of distrust

While the RTO Survey made it abundantly clear that workers do not want to return to onsite work full-time, it also highlighted other important worker attitudes related to RTO policies. Specifically, workers believe their employers are pressuring them to return to onsite work to have greater oversight over how they spend their time during the work day.

The survey results show that 77% of employees perceive RTO policies as a method of control, and 64% believe these policies are rooted in a basic distrust of workers’ productivity when they work offsite.

RTO as a strategy for ‘quiet firing’

To further complicate the matter, workers suspect some employers have a more sinister rationale for enforcing these policies. The survey found that 42% of employees suspect RTO policies aim to reduce headcount without severance.

For companies whose workers believe the company is strategically trying to thin out employees by creating untenable RTO policies, there will be an impact on morale. Feelings of insecurity and betrayal, potentially leading to a toxic work environment, seem inevitable in these “quiet firing” scenarios, and the emotional impact on some employees could be significant both to the individual and to the employer’s bottom line.

Strategies for successful RTO policy planning

At a high level, these statistics should alert company leaders that enforcing strict RTO policies could harm employee-employer relationships, leading to diminished trust, reduced engagement, and challenges in fostering a healthy and supportive workplace culture. Further, feelings of distrust could also promote a culture of secrecy and inhibit the sharing of ideas, which runs the risk of impacting innovation.

These negative feelings could be particularly potent for certain types of workers. Women, who often bear greater caregiving responsibilities for both children and sick or elderly family members, are particularly affected by rigid RTO policies. Forcing them to choose between career and family risks deepening existing workplace gender disparities.

People with disabilities, who may have found greater work accessibility through WFH policies, could also face setbacks if RTO policies do not incorporate options for flexibility. Similarly, employees of color and lower-level employees often encounter systemic barriers that can exacerbate the challenges posed by rigid RTO policies. These workers may face not only logistical hurdles such as limited access to childcare and transportation but also workplace dynamics that fail to recognize or accommodate diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Rigid RTO policies may disproportionately affect their ability to maintain work-life balance and career advancement, potentially alienating valuable talent and undermining efforts to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace culture.

Finally, enforcing strict RTO policies without employee buy-in could have even more catastrophic results, specifically the loss of high performers and senior-level employees who may choose to seek employment at companies with more flexible policies. This talent drain could be quite damaging in industries where innovation and skilled labor are key to success.

To address these critical issues, employers must carefully consider whether and how to enforce RTO policies. Here are some tips to consider in crafting a successful RTO policy:

Related: The rise of mandatory RTO & talent acquisition opportunity for remote businesses

Dr. Jasmine Escalera is a career expert at MyPerfectResume and a certified career coach with over 15 years of experience in management and leadership.

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