Analysis: These policies have moved from being questionable to being a red flag and are now a strong indication of a badly run organisation
The pandemic had a substantial impact on the world of work. Many people who worked in traditional offices transitioned to remote work and, overall, this was a positive experience for employers and employees alike. Employers often reported similar or even higher levels of productivity and employees reported higher satisfaction. After all, remote work gave them more flexibility and autonomy, and allowed employees to dodge many of the least desirable aspects of working in a traditional office (commuting, office politics, meetings etc).
But despite the apparent benefits of remote work, many executives have encouraged and sometimes ordered that employees return to the office. I have written before raising questions about the wisdom of return to office policies. I've noted that there was little evidence to support the idea that organisations benefit from requiring employees to return to the office. I have also argued that the known drawbacks to forcing employees to return to the office were likely to more than offset the potential gains associated with such policies.
There has been a steady of research on the effects of return to office policies, and I think we can now be more definite about how these policies affect organisations and their employees. In particular, there is now sufficient evidence to show that these policies have few, if any, benefits.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Employment Peter Burke discusses the statutory review into Ireland's remote work request laws
In the past, executives would often justify these policies by arguing that they were likely to lead to increases in creativity or to improvements in the climate of organisations. But it is becoming increasingly clear that these ephemeral benefits simply do not occur, and that organisations gain little by forcing employees to return to the office.
It is also clear that return to office policies are very likely to have substantial drawbacks, especially in terms of their effects on workers' attitudes. Employees who are forced to return to the office are typically less satisfied and less engaged than those who are allowed to continue to work remotely. More importantly, these policies can lead your best and most qualified employees to leave the organisation.
Marginal employees often have no alternative: if the boss forces them to return to the office, they will go back. Your star employees, on the other hand, are likely to vote with their feet, and they often have little trouble finding alternative employment if they are seriously put off by your return to office policies.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, the Labour Party's Ged Nash says fuel price rises should motivate focus on enabling remote work
In previous RTÉ Brainstorm columns, I have speculated about the possible reasons for these policies. Executives might want you to return to the office simply because this is what they are used to, or they might mistake being present for being productive. I think the accumulated evidence regarding the effects of these policies is now sufficiently strong that we can make stronger statements about what these policies mean for organisations.
I think return to office policies have moved from being a question mark (i.e., policies whose purpose and justification were questionable) to being a red flag. That is, a policy that forces employees back to the office is a strong indication of a badly run organisation. That is, if executives adopt policies whose benefits are at best ephemeral, and more likely illusory, but whose costs are substantial and well-documented, you should question the wisdom of working for that organisation.
Return to the office policies are little more than badly designed exercises of power and control
At first, these policies might have seemed harmless, and executives might make reasonable arguments about why these policies might be beneficial. The time for making these arguments has past, and the only plausible argument for insisting that your employee return to the office (especially if this involves coming to the office five days a week on a traditional 9-to-5 schedule) is similar to Donald Trump’s argument for attacking Iran: they do it because they can.
Return to the office policies are little more than badly designed exercises of power and control. If this sort of decision is not a red flag, I don’t know what is. In most organisations, These policies involve lots of pain and very little gain. If you have a choice, avoid organisations that pursue such an obviously harmful policy.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
