Ask Sanyin: How Can We Shift the Return-to-Office Conversation?

It’s been five years since the start of the pandemic, and we’re still debating a return to the office. I know that being together physically is important for communication and connection. How can I bring employees back to the office in a way that responds to their needs rather than being seen as “command and control”?

You are so right in focusing on the need for connection and human flourishing. While the return-to-office (RTO) debate has focused on worker productivity, for most companies productivity has been stable or has improved, regardless of whether employees have been working from home or in the office.

Putting productivity at the heart of this conversation has also centered the issue of trust. Employees receive the morale-killing message that leaders doubt their judgment, commitment, and work ethic and that they don’t deserve the autonomy that is key to genuine engagement and high performance. That’s the tension at the heart of the current debate.

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There are plenty of companies where a command-and-control mentality reigns. But at the same time, there are many leaders who, like you, are concerned about organizational culture and important elements of employee well-being like connectedness at work. We need to reframe the request to spend more time in a shared workplace as a response to the needs of our people, not a power play.

Focus on the importance of human-to-human interaction to sustain a healthy culture, build trusting workplace relationships, and collaborate better on certain aspects of work. At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge the lived reality that some parts of a job, like deep-focus work, may be done as well or better from home. If you are open to a mix of in-person and remote work, supporting such options will boost your credibility.

Time spent working in the same place together is not just about making the work better — it’s about employee well-being. A landmark 2023 report from former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned about a loneliness epidemic with real health consequences for Americans. The antidote is to come back to what humans have been wired to do since our ancestors sat around campfires under the stars, telling stories and looking each other in the eye.

As an executive who is also a mom, I see the benefits of technology that connects me with other people across great distances and gives me the flexibility to work from home, but it cannot replace the serendipitous moments that occur when I’m sharing space with my colleagues.

Emphasize that asking employees to spend more (or the majority of) their time in the office is a return to connection and a reshaping of the ways in which we are there to help each other. However, while you can frame the narrative, the stories that build the culture must come from your employees’ experiences. For example, when I was asked to go back to the office, I felt that my productivity was in question. But connecting with my coworkers again gave me evidence of the richness of how we relate to one another in person.

If you are seen as prioritizing culture, community, and well-being, and you communicate that you have no doubts about productivity, employees should have positive stories to share about the return to the office. And you may emerge as having earned greater trust from your team — not diminished trust.