Smart RTO Policies Can Offer Flexibility and In-Person Benefits

Return-to-office mandates can definitely influence employees’ perceptions of their employers. A study this year from the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz School of Business reported that S&P 500 companies’ mandates caused “significant declines in employees’ ratings of overall job satisfaction, work-life balance, senior management, and corporate culture.”

Both employers and employees making the RTO transition should consider seeking more opportunities for learning substantive and “soft” skills and relationship-building, while offering some of the flexibility that remote work has allowed.

Although companies implement RTO mandates to improve employee productivity and company performance, many employees say they feel more productive when working from home, and view the mandates “as a signal of management power grabbing and lack of trust in employees.” These views may contribute to poor perceptions of senior management.

Some mandates require five in-office days per week. For example, Amazon.com Inc. is ordering employees to return to the office five days a week starting in January, prompting threats of “soft quitting.” Strict enforcement of compliance with in-office mandates—for example, by considering compliance when evaluating performance or promotions—has sparked similar discord among employees, while some employers view in-office presence as a business necessity.

Both employers and employees have valid concerns. Working remotely provides employees more flexibility in their schedules, but the Covid-19 pandemic’s limited in-person interaction and screen-only communication created challenges in ensuring employees developed necessary skills, built professional relationships, and felt connected to their employers.

Pre-pandemic, colleagues frequently dropped by my office for unscheduled brainstorming sessions, and vice-versa. I grabbed lunch and coffee daily with coworkers of varying practice groups and seniority. Conversations covered substantive legal issues and suggestions on how to manage workload or navigate communications with senior and junior attorneys. These discussions strengthened relationships and made the firm feel like a community—not just a workplace.

But the pandemic’s fully remote work schedule winnowed my daily and monthly contacts to just the attorneys working on my projects, and the extra barrier of screen-only communication narrowed conversations solely to project-related issues.

I have seen the return of in-person interaction start to broaden professional and personal horizons again. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to balancing concerns on both sides. But employers and employees must take steps to foster professional development and allow for scheduling flexibility while accounting for the workflow needs of their organizations.

One potential solution may be to mandate the interactions rather than their location—employers could require a certain level of in-person interactions but let the involved employees decide when and where.

Also, employees could proactively seek opportunities for mentoring and learning. These include inviting a partner to coffee, discussing questions with junior associates over lunch, or asking to observe a colleague’s client meeting or telephone call.

There are several policies to consider when bridging the gap between employer and employee needs.

Employers can set a day and time for regular in-person team meetings. At my firm, this has increased in-office presence on the same days, which presents further opportunities for brainstorming, mentoring, and connecting.

Employers and employees can schedule in-office events that encourage in-person attendance while offering ancillary benefits. We hold a lunch-and-learn professional development seminar every month or so. We also organize firmwide activities such as bake-off contests or community service projects a few times per year, which has helped build relationships among people who may not normally work closely.

When in the office, both employers and employees can make a point of engaging with coworkers through various activities. Consider organizing a brief coffee or lunch with coworkers of mixed seniority once every week or two. When time is too short for a shared lunch, I canvass others to join me in picking up lunch, even if we then eat at our respective desks.

Consider assigning a few junior employees to one senior employee for these interactions, and rotate groups every couple of months to facilitate building relationships more widely and gaining different perspectives on substantive questions. I periodically take a different group of associates to coffee, and find that those interactions accumulate to a goldmine of relationship-building, discussion about our professional work, and mentoring.

Implement a formal mentoring program requiring a mix of face-to-face and remote interactions. We meet during and after office hours at mutually agreeable times. Options include attending sporting events, exploring new restaurants, and meeting for happy hours or game nights.

Endless permutations of activities are possible. The point is to blend mandatory rules (interactions must occur) with flexible opportunities (employees determine the logistics of the interactions) to foster learning, collaboration, and relationship-building. When employers and employees share this interest, everyone benefits.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Stephanie L. Salek is an associate at Hollingsworth, practicing in the complex litigation, products liability, and mass torts groups.

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