The return to office mandate: How to encourage staff to return to the office
Wayne Willey
Why the return to office mandate is the wrong starting point
As businesses emerge from the pandemic, many are grappling with a familiar question: how do you get staff to return to the office? Some high-profile companies have already issued mandates, citing declining workplace culture, poor collaboration, lack of mentorship, and weak knowledge transfer. But there's a more important question that rarely gets asked first: why are staff choosing to stay home in the first place?
The appeal of remote work is real
The reasons employees have embraced working from home are straightforward. No commute, lower transport costs, greater autonomy, the flexibility to blend work and personal life, and the ability to concentrate without the interruptions of an open office. For many, home is simply a more comfortable and productive place to work.
That doesn't mean remote work is without cost to the business. Workplace culture can decay when face-to-face interaction disappears or becomes infrequent. Collaboration and knowledge sharing suffer. Junior staff miss out on the informal mentorship that happens naturally in an office environment. These are legitimate concerns, and businesses are right to take them seriously.
The problem with top-down mandates
Where many businesses go wrong is in how they respond. A blanket return to office order, issued without consultation, creates an immediate imbalance. Staff feel unheard. Questions emerge about the real motivations behind the decision, is management genuinely concerned about culture, or are they trying to justify an expensive lease? That kind of doubt erodes trust quickly.
An arbitrary mandate can lead to resentment, higher staff turnover, and a drop in the very productivity it was meant to fix.
How to actually encourage a return to the office
If staff are not choosing the office over home, the office needs to be worth choosing. Here are some practical ways to shift that balance:
Improve the physical environment. Modern collaborative workspaces, updated technology, and genuine social spaces make a real difference. If the office is just rows of desks under fluorescent lights, it's hard to compete with a home setup.
Introduce flexible arrangements. A hybrid policy that lets staff split their time can be an effective middle ground. It respects employee preferences while still maintaining a regular office presence.
Address workplace culture directly. If staff are reluctant to return because of a negative atmosphere, a return to office policy won't fix that. The culture issue needs to be tackled head on.
Communicate openly and honestly. Be transparent about why a return to the office matters. Staff are far more likely to engage with a decision they understand and have had input into.
Proactively resolve concerns. Concerns don't disappear on their own. Creating space for staff to raise issues, and following through on them, builds the kind of trust that makes change easier.
A relationship that works both ways
Businesses have every right to determine how and where work gets done. But the most effective way to navigate the return to office issue is through genuine communication and a willingness to compromise.
The employee-employer relationship should work for both parties. Sometimes that means an employee who relocated expecting permanent remote work needs to reassess. Sometimes it means a business realising that flexible arrangements actually produce better outcomes than a full-time office requirement.
The post-pandemic workplace is still finding its shape. The businesses that get this right won't be the ones who issued the firmest mandates, they'll be the ones who kept asking why.