Canid Comment - Return To Office War - To Be Or Not To Be Like Elon Musk

Is forcing employees back to the office a great plan of action? The answer is mixed between yes and no. The better way to look at this is, will demanding a total return to office impact the culture and desire to work for the company so much that it affects productivity and, ultimately, the bottom line?  

9 in 10 companies will demand that staff return to the office in 2024. 28% will threaten their staff who fail to comply with corrective action up to termination. 72% of the 1,000 leaders surveyed said that the return to the office helped with the bottom line, and upwards of 80% feel that productivity will continue to improve along with revenue and staff retention.  

There is a real fight against the return-to-office mandates, with both sides digging in their heels. Companies are not backing down, and neither are employees. The result is a poisoned work environment. The so-called retention rate of above 80% and the better productivity are costing companies a thing they can not afford to lose: culture and the staff themselves. 76% of employees are prepared to walk away from their companies if RTO is enforced, especially if threatened with termination. In short, this is a war not worth fighting. Companies that have decided to do a full-on return to the office will not back down, and many employees will not. So where is the middle road?  

One key thing before diving in is this: some CEOs and bosses care very little about their staff.

Business Insider cited the following in a piece dated May 6 2023. Elon Musk has consistently criticized remote work. In an interview with CNBC, he strongly condemned it as "morally wrong" and called it "bullshit." Musk, who enforced a ban on remote work at Twitter following the company's acquisition, has never shied away from expressing his disdain for work-from-home policies. However, in this particular interview, Musk strongly asserted that remote work is not helpful for employees.

"I'm a big believer that people need to be more productive when they're in person." He went further, stating the following.  "Get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshit because they're asking everyone else to not work from home while they do," he added.  

Musk also emailed staff, stating, "The office is not an Option."

Musk stated that in-office work promotes collaboration and productivity and improves the bottom line. Which is true it does. However, being the ass that he is, he does not see past his wallet to realize that the landscape has changed. Unfortunately, many others like him are dimwitted and can't or won't wake to the reality that how we work has changed. The pandemic was the catalyst for that change; like it or not, the so-called peons will not return to the good ole days of commuting for hours or juggling who gets the kids after school. They are done with it, and the sooner executives get this, the better things will be for everyone. 

On the other side of the coin is the reality that a return to office is a good idea and should be something most people can and should do. The pandemic is over, and trying to meet the employer in the middle here is essential. What needs to occur is an approach that sews seeds of respect between boss and employee. Doing so will amount to a healthier, more productive, collaborative group that improves the company and shows customers that the firm is worth doing business with. The model Elon Musk has in mind makes him and his company more and more irrelevant.  

1. Lesson one: You don't need to do the Musk. Doing so will bring the bottom line up, retain employees, and offer collaboration. But the cost, high attrition, a disdain for leadership team members, and a culture where the staff do the minimum to meet the basic standards. Is it worth it? You decide this one.
2. Create a plan and build towards the return to the office, and include your staff in the process.  
3. Do a risk assessment; there will be a cost to your business. Find out what that cost is and plan to mitigate or absorb it. Remember, the cost is not just in terms of money but in talent. You will lose staff, and some of them will be the best people you have in the firm.
4. Talk it up; make the return to office a positive event. Heck, throw a party or two as you go forward. On the day of the return, be there to thank the staff for coming back and do something tangible that staff can take away, like put a small gift basket on their desk.
5. Be flexible; a hybrid work-from-home plan is an excellent option to have in place. Some benefits do come with a work-from-home plan. Whether it is complete or hybrid, you should consider, and frankly speaking, offer the option to work from home.

I have seen how rigidly has played out in my company. The return to work enforcement went south fast, and the loss is still being felt. My company did the Elon Musk thing, and the productivity has increased, and staff retention is pretty good. However, respect for the upper leadership of the company has all but disappeared. Trust in them has diminished, and most of the staff just come in because it's a paycheck, not a job they love. The company rolled the dice and got what they more or less wanted but has lost the moral high ground. The slogans in our lunch room and locker room bay are meaningless dribble because of the forced return. The outcome would have been better had the firm implemented some of the above ideas. It is not a suck-up on my part to say this. The company I work for is one of the best in its line of business. I have been treated very well by the managerial staff from my boss on up. That does not take away from the fact that they screwed up on the RTO. After all, they are human and prone to error. The question will be how they repair the damage and restore the relationship to the staff. So far, they get a C on this. Time will tell.

Please don't make the mistake of thinking you can return to the Leave It To Beaver days of return to office. Work has changed, and it's time for employers and employees to get off their high horses and start working together rather than fighting over the idea of sitting in a cube vs home. It's ridiculous to continue this petty war. The economy is in trouble, and bosses and staff members need to find the middle on the return to office mandate that includes working from home now rather than later. As I noted above, neither side will give in, so creating a truce and working it out is the better plan. Because if you do not, you will be just as irrelevant as Elon Musk. 

Here are some other articles that may give you some insight on the subject.

How To Implement An Effective Return To Office Strategy  Published by SHRM.org

Forbes has two article that speak to the topic Nine Out Of 10 Companies Will Require Employees To Return To The Office and In-Office Mandates Attacking Progress And Company Growth, But ‘Big Guns’ Not Backing Down

Entrepreneur Magazine h as this article out.  We're Now Finding Out The Damaging Results of The Mandated Return to Office — And It's Worse Than We Thought.

Business Insider also looked at this topic in it's article.  Swipe your badge or get fired? Employers and workers face a reckoning over returning to the office.