Christine Carter, Erin Eatough, Kristi Leimgruber, Khoa Le Nguyen
Despite the benefits of remote work for employees, many organizations are abandoning it in favor of returning to the office full-time-or part-time in a hybrid model. A 2024 survey from BetterUp shows that the number of primarily remote roles has been cut in half-and one out of four organizations cite improved connection and culture as the business rationale behind mandated office returns.
However, our research found that returning to an office often is a major disruption to one's routine, foundational work, and overall life experience. We surveyed 1,400 full-time U.S. employees who were mandated to return to in-office work and found that they had higher burnout, stress, and turnover intentions. They also had lower trust in their organization, engagement, and productivity levels. Our results indicate that if the return-to-office transition is not handled with a high level of humanity, sensitivity, and empathy, workplace culture suffers, and the workforce's sense of belonging plummets.
We also found that RTO results in pressure on employees' flexibility, time, and even bank accounts. If you are struggling to adjust to a mandated return to the office, know that you are not alone.
There are benefits that come from working in person. For example, research BetterUp has done in partnership with the University of California, Riverside found increased life satisfaction and social connectedness as benefits of in-person interaction over technology-mediated interaction.
While it seems intuitive that people form better working relationships in person, poorly communicated and implemented return-to-office mandates breed resentment toward employers. Resentful employees are less likely to bring their authentic selves to the workplace and less likely to invest in those around them.
The most challenging aspect of returning to the office is the commute. This isn't surprising because commutes of only 30 minutes are linked to higher stress and anger, while 45 minutes or more is linked to poorer overall well-being, daily mood, and health.
What is surprising is the second most challenging aspect of returning to work: the loss of flexibility to switch between work and home tasks for things like accepting a delivery or switching over the laundry between meetings. In a time-starved world, even the smallest time savings can be very important as people attempt to "do it all."
While some leaders might read this and think "Ah-ha! I knew people were multi-tasking when they should be working!", the truth is, that remote work is actually a net gain for the organization. Research has found that people in remote work give more total hours to the company.