Remote work requires a commitment to culture, an investment in the workplace community, and clear (and clearly communicated) norms.

—Lisa Conn, Forbes, August 21, 2023

Was remote work a failed experiment, a mere stopgap through a public health crisis? Or did it offer advantages to some organizations? Had we only been operating under an unquestioned convention of keeping the workforce in the office because . . . well, because that was simply how it had always been done?

As many workforces have adapted to their lives away from the office, the prospect of returning threatens to disrupt a more self-determined work-life balance afforded by working remotely. For others, there are economic consequences of RTO mandates: the added expenses of child or elder care, for example, which many employees could handle on their own while working from home. As people adjusted to being home during lockdown, they also developed routines that made them dependent on a schedule without a commute.

Many organizations discovered they could function just as well under these conditions, if not better, but others were eager to get everyone back to the office. What determined this difference?

Among the former, Airbnb found that remote work made it more adept at competing for global talent, given that prospective employees could live virtually anywhere. Other organizations realized that they could dispense with office real estate, cutting millions of dollars from their expenses. Overall, a company could potentially save $11,000 per employee with the transition to remote work.

On the other hand, some employers are still struggling with their workforce’s physical absence. Last month, a court decided in favor of Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker’s decision to unilaterally order city workers back to the office, a demand the workers’ union argues should have fallen under collective bargaining. Mayor Parker claims that working on site “provides the opportunity for more personal and productive interactions, communication and collaboration.”

In the end, the necessity of working remotely during COVID-19 was a litmus test of an organization’s flexibility, culture strength, and clarity of purpose. What Lisa Conn indicated in her 2023 Forbes article still holds: “Teams that struggle with remote work may have inadvertently uncovered some foundational flaws in their organizational structure and norms.” For some, the involuntary experiment highlighted already-existing problems with mismanagement, mistrust, and poor engagement. The “quiet quitting” phenomenon, for example, was one manifestation of this problem.

For the organizations that struggled, RTO will not solve their problems. Forty-two percent of companies that mandate a return to the office are facing problems with retention and recruiting talent. Under this reality, leaders have an opportunity to improve engagement, strengthen culture, and boost communication—but they may find that simply gathering their workers without building better connections further alienates the workforce.

Whether your teams are remote, hybrid, or in the process of returning to the office, you have an opportunity to assess the health of your company culture and make adjustments accordingly—in fact, as an effective leader, it’s your duty. Human capital is an organization’s most valuable asset, so make sure you have a clear sense of how your employees are feeling and what support they need to thrive. That doesn’t mean compromising on operational essentials; if your business truly requires in-person collaboration to excel, then that’s a condition of employment. However, by incorporating input from the people on the ground, you can think creatively about how best to address their preferences and the needs of your market. The pandemic taught us many lessons, including that there are multiple ways to get a job done.