RTO – Return to Office or Really Tricky Options
Yep, we have another acronym. RTO, or Return to Office has become the latest one to make its way around the water cooler. Which is also an outdated reference – or is it?
There was a time (pre-COVID) when the conversations around the water cooler (or coffee station) were a regular occurrence. They were the informal chats that we all had when we worked from the office. That was the way most of us worked and the idea of remote and virtual work was still pretty “edgy”. As someone who has experienced both, I will say that I truly understand the value of direct human interactions within a work environment. The dynamics and the vibe are just different and offer a setting for very genuine and unexpected connections to occur.
On the other hand, I have spent the majority of my career working from a home office and have learned the discipline necessary to make it work well. I think we also have to acknowledge that some jobs lend themselves to remote work where others do not. It’s the in-between jobs that are now subject to the Return to Office movement.
It wasn’t long after we were well into the pandemic that executives with whom Real Good Ventures works started to wonder when we were all “going back to normal”. And it wasn’t long after that when they realized that “normal” was destined to look and feel very different. We made the move home because we were told that social distancing had to be enforced. And whether or not you agree with what happened, an outcome of all of it was that people learned how to be productive from their dining rooms, basements, and whatever makeshift office they could fashion in their homes.
I remember a conversation with a CEO whose organization was contemplating a “mandatory” return to the office back in 2021 and he asked me what I thought. I replied that, of course, the company could do that, and that he needed to be prepared to lose people. He then took the time to talk to his people (because that’s the kind of good CEO he is) and learned quickly that a mandate to return to the office would mean the loss of some great talent. The company quickly revisited their strategy and in a very forward-thinking way. More on that later.
And with this change came the realization that we could still get work done and experience the value of a bit more sleep since we no longer have a 45-minute commute to the office. We were home for more meals and able to walk the kids to the bus stop before our first Zoom call. The new world of work made room for our personal lives and pulled forward the realization that work could happen anywhere with a strong Wi-Fi signal.
However, it also created a huge challenge for managers and supervisors. “How do I guide and develop my people when I can’t be with them?” Well, truth be told, lots of global organizations have been doing that for years. Yes, it is challenging, and it calls for a more evolved and capable manager. For the last two years, when speaking at conferences, the topic most requested is “Reinventing the Manager: Lessons from the Bossholes®”. After nearly three years and over 140 episodes, The Bosshole® Chronicles podcast has produced some of the most relevant content for managers. For example, in a January 2021 episode, Dr. Todd Dewett clarified that managers no longer have the benefit of “managing by observing” and had to learn how to “manage by outcome”. “I am no longer in your presence where I can watch you so you must not be working.” You know, THAT kind of manager…
Today’s workplace experienced a huge shift from the outdated command-and-control management model with which most of us are familiar and have had to endure for far too long. It must give way to a management approach that involves more trust and autonomy – two very new aspects of the work world.
Based on a recent article, “Why CEOs want Employees Back in the Office” published by SHRM, the push for RTO is gaining momentum. The article sites a recent KPMG study that shows nearly two-thirds of CEOs at multinational companies said the “ideal” working environment at their company by 2025 would be full-time in-office. Another 28 percent favor a hybrid model, and just 7 percent say they foresee a fully remote setup.
Again, I fully understand (through personal experience) the value of working in an in-person setting, but I haven’t quite come to terms with why full-time in-office is ideal by a clear majority of CEOs. It’s a very interesting article and I encourage you to read it. What stood out for me was the data showing that since 2022, the U.S. has experienced five consecutive quarters of year-over-year declines in worker productivity. Just to provide some context, productivity actually increased shortly after the onset of the pandemic.
It's almost like saying that remote or virtual work has run its course and we just aren’t as productive. However, there are other key variables at play here that cannot be overlooked. I contend that we haven’t fully embraced the need for a new type of manager that is equipped to live in and maximize a virtual/remote workforce. It’s just too easy to conclude that declining productivity is due to working from home. It’s more complicated than that. The new world of work requires a new type of manager, and we haven’t even begun to move the needle on that one which, I believe, allows us to fall back on the easy answer of “have people come back to the office”. It’s the old model showing itself again.
Fortunately, the article concludes that mandating Return to Office policy is not advisable and enlisting employees in the creation of a workable option is what’s necessary. Current turnover numbers and workforce velocity are conclusive when it comes to this point. Bring your employees into the conversation and find a solution that is workable. Otherwise, RTO might become a Real Tragic Outcome for your company.
Back to the CEO mentioned earlier. He and the executive team took a more progressive and inclusive approach to this question and are experiencing record-setting performance and better retention numbers. Proof that it can be done.