Are bosses insisting on returning to the office for the right reasons?

Leaders insist for reasons of control, culture and collaboration but miss the larger point in how work has shifted

- Crystal Lim-Lange

In recent weeks, I have dealt with companies seeking advice on making the move to get employees back in the office more frequently during the week and dealing with hesitation, even resistance, from staff.

In interventions that I've run, most employees seem truly baffled and feel unconvinced of the benefits. "My boss told our team to return to the office to collaborate, but all our meetings are still on Zoom, so what's the point?" one asked.

"If I'm in the office but on the 17th floor, and attending virtual meetings with colleagues on floors 18 and 19, isn't that the same as remote work?" another questioned.

It's little wonder many working professionals are taking umbrage at being told remote working should be seen as a perk rather than the norm after making the work-from-home leap and hearing that hybrid working skills were prized in this brave new world of work.

But could employers have good reason for insisting they spend more time at the office? When I ask senior management in big and small companies why they want their people back in the workplace, the answers seem to fall into three categories: control, culture and collaboration.

CONTROL

Leaders who seek control have felt powerless in the world of hybrid work. Their antiquated ways of managing and assessing staff relied on physical visibility and presenteeism: seeing who stayed last, whose schedules seemed to be the most packed and who appeared to be busiest.

These managers who subscribed to the old school of "management by walking about" found themselves floundering in a virtual world and made attempts at micromanaging to reassert control to the detriment of their staff. I have heard countless stories about controlling bosses who demand employees submit detailed time logs each day, provide continuous status updates or even keep their webcams on to prove they are working.