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- RTO policies often take a hit on employees’ motivation and morale, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
- Unequal policy enforcement is a common culprit in the RTO process.
- To get it right, train your middle managers and listen to what they have to say.
RTO can be a risky move.
As companies across sectors, like Starbucks, Amazon, and Dell, have been calling employees back into the office, BI spoke to several workplace experts about the practice. They broadly agreed that when handled poorly, RTO can have a negative impact on your employees’ motivation, morale, and retention.
“If you’re enacting an RTO, you have to be ready for worst-case scenarios that may damage your ability to compete, at least in the medium term,” Melissa Swift, who worked at Deloitte and Korn Ferry and now runs a workplace consultancy, told BI.
However, not all RTOs are created equal, and the experts agreed that there’s a common mistake that makes RTO worse: unequal enforcement.
“There’s nothing worse than feeling like your coworkers are better treated without any reason,” Thomas Roulet, a professor of organisational sociology and leadership at the University of Cambridge in the UK, told BI. “Equity issues do negatively affect motivation.”
Swagatam Basu, a senior director of research in Gartner’s HR practice, said inconsistent mandates can create “compliance without commitment.” In a 2024 survey of 6,466 employees and managers in 14 countries, Gartner found that RTO mandates made employees 10% less likely to stay and increased the number of employees “quiet quitting” by 19%.
The three experts also agreed that RTO doesn’t have to have a negative impact on your workforce.
Here’s how to RTO the right way.
Data, dialogue, and gradual change
Each of the management experts BI spoke to said RTO policies work best when they are flexible and give managers a say. They also offered some key pieces of advice:
- Go about it gradually
Roulet said five-day RTO mandates “do not work.”
He said companies should use “more progressive shifts,” such as moving from two to three days, in order to help people get used to the change.
- Make employees want to come in
Swift said leaders should “understand the rhythm of people’s working days,” lest they order people “into situations where they cannot get their work done.”
She said the noise of open-plan offices and phone calls can cause issues. Dell offered employees noise-defending headphones after they complained RTO had made the workplace too noisy, a source previously told BI.
- Support and train managers to guide the way
Many RTO mandates are designed by senior leadership, but Basu said managers underneath them are “key.”
“When equipped to lead through RTO, they can build flexible work models that preserve trust and performance,” he said.
“The ideal is not hybrid or fully remote,” said Cooper. “It’s when a line manager negotiates with each team member what works for them and for the business. That gets higher productivity, better job satisfaction, and fewer sick days.”