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In the past few years, job listings have increasingly touted remote or partially remote work alongside other perks like gym memberships and childcare benefits. The assumption is baked in: employees prefer remote work. It implies that companies that care about employee well-being give them the freedom to work from home. <\/p>\n
But the tide is shifting. I heard a term recently that made me chuckle: FOMOW. Fear of missing out at work<\/em>. Professionals, and Gen Z in particular, are feeling the drawbacks of not going to the office. Nearly half of Gen Z and 30% of millennials reported that office working increased their quality of life, according to one study<\/a>.<\/p>\n As a business owner, I\u2019ve seen the benefits of working in the office, beyond quality of life\u2014for learning, collaboration, and more. What\u2019s more, it\u2019s an investment in our employees\u2019 careers and growth. <\/p>\n The leaders getting in-office work right aren\u2019t just reopening offices\u2014they\u2019re rethinking what those offices are for and how to frame policies for employees. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n The pandemic spurred a global proliferation of remote work, but by 2024, a survey<\/a> of 764 companies that were fully remote during the pandemic found that 87% were returning to the office by 2025: 64% already had. Nowadays, some companies compromise with a 60% in-office policy, and others wait to see how top talent navigates the market\u2014whether they\u2019re willing to accept fully in-office roles. Essentially, companies follow employees\u2019 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n But I think this does a disservice to professionals. It treats working in the office as a punishment rather than a value proposition. <\/p>\n The most effective return-to-office strategies flip the script. They position the workplace as a high-value environment employees can and should choose to engage with, not one they\u2019re required to endure. They frame working in the office as a perk rather than a mandate. <\/p>\n The narrative surrounding your company\u2019s return-to-office policy can have a powerful effect on employees\u2019 perspectives. The most successful companies emphasize the value for employees and their growth. <\/p>\n The question becomes: How can companies make that value tangible? Companies that have successfully navigated the transition don\u2019t simply tell workers to come back\u2014they articulate what employees gain from being there.<\/p>\n Thanks to research published in Nature Human Behaviour<\/em><\/a>, we know that remote work tends to hurt collaboration and connection\u2014employees were less likely to collaborate in groups than when they were in the office. Remote workers became more siloed. They exchanged less information. The researchers concluded that the long-term implications were decreased productivity and innovation among information workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n It makes sense. Communication simply isn\u2019t as fluid when it must be scheduled via a Zoom call or Google Meet. Spontaneous interactions, informal mentorship, and meaningful yet casual trust-building moments slip away when work is fully remote. But they can boomerang back by returning to the office. <\/p>\n Leaders who want to bring employees back with enthusiasm can reimagine offices as hubs for collaboration, creativity, and effective decision-making\u2014and make those benefits crystal clear. <\/p>\n Take this statement from Dell CEO Michael Dell:<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re finding is that for all the technology in the world, nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction. A 30-second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days.\u201d<\/p>\nShifting the narrative from mandate to value proposition<\/h2>\n
Rebuilding the invisible infrastructure of work<\/h2>\n