RTO mandates: myth v. reality

Can’t believe in the Year of our Lord 2025 we’re still having the debate about whether or not forcing employees back into the office with a strict return-to-office mandate is a good idea, but here we are. (Watch me rage against this idea on TikTok and Instagram, if you like.)

C-Suite leaders across corporate America have convinced that five-day-a-week in-office mandates boost productivity, foster collaboration, and demonstrate leadership. But the actual data on remote and hybrid work tells a very different story:

RTO mandates force women to choose between careers and caregiving responsibilities and put a disproportionate burden on people of color, all for performance benefits that rarely materialize.

There are benefits to being back in person, and people know it. Remote work is at least a partial reason for why we all feel so lonely right now.

But coming back into the office comes at a significant cost in terms of both time and money for each individual employee. Deciding to do so is better left as a team-by-team, department-by-department decision—based on what their actual work looks like—rather than a blanket mandate.