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Organizations are increasingly mandating a full return to the office (RTO). While this decision might be the right one for specific organizations, simply following this trend without careful consideration could be a strategic misstep for some organizations. As this new article points out, “instead of playing follow the leader” on RTO, organizations should be much more intentional and strategic about RTO decisions. This article provides a five-component framework for making RTO decisions:
- Market and Innovation Goals examine how flexible work strategies can support business expansion and collaboration;
- Governance considers how flexible work aligns with organizational values and ESG commitments;
- Internal Data and Analytics focus on using data to understand which jobs can be performed remotely and how teams coordinate;
- Recruitment and Retention analyzes how workplace flexibility affects talent acquisition in competitive markets; and
- Manager Training ensures leaders can effectively manage remote and hybrid teams.
This approach can help leaders develop RTO strategies that serve their unique business needs rather than following trends. Also, I am resharing a Microsoft Work Lab article on setting “in-person” office expectations based on “moments that matter”—where in-person connections offer distinct advantages—instead of enforcing a minimum number of office days.
