RTO (Return To Office) Let's Discuss + Curated Content RTO vs. WFH vs Hybrid

Amazon is making waves in the workplace by it's CEO issuing a mandate that nearly all Amazon employees will be expected to be in the office for five days a week beginning early next year. For for much of the past five years many employees have been working remotely or on a hybrid arrangement. Many employees are are ‘rage applying’ for new jobs after Jassy’s RTO mandate: ‘I will not go back’.

Recently after the announcement by Amazon, KPMG published their 2024 CEO Outlook that states 79% of U.S. CEOs envision the working environment for corporate employees whose roles were traditionally based in-office to be back in the physical workplace in the next three years – a marked shift from earlier this year (34%) while 17% envision these roles to be hybrid (46% earlier this year) and only 4% envision them being fully remote (3% earlier this year).

I responded to this pointing out (after I read the actual report) that Large Sized Corporations make up only 0.1% of total U.S. businesses, and since only 400 CEO's of large companies were surveyed, it's safe to estimate that the RTO sentiment of CEOS in the report (a whopping 79% of the 400 CEOs included) is equal to only...

0.0016% of U.S. Large Size Company CEO's insights were analyzed

Meanwhile 99.9% of U.S. companies which include Micros, Small, and Medium sized Company CEOs were not included. I rest my case.

The change in attitude of RTO contradicts data, expert advice, and feedback from employees, who consistently emphasize that having flexibility benefits both them and the company.

Leaders of companies are often too objective in two things, 1) Understanding of what their customers wants and needs are, and 2) What is best for employees.

Put my thoughts side, let's take a look at what others are saying just in the last week:

POV: Amazon’s RTO mandate is a massive failure of imagination

Christie Smith argues that Amazon’s new return-to-work policy, in which employees must work from an Amazon office five days per week, is a significant mistake. [ Fast Company ]

Angry Amazon employees are ‘rage applying’ for new jobs after Andy Jassy’s RTO mandate: ‘I will not go back’

Laura was working from home when her husband forwarded her a link to the news: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week. It was the first time the working mom, who has been with Amazon for over four years, learned she would need to add another four hours to her weekly commute.[ Fortune ]

Amazon’s new office-only work policy is sure to backfire

This stance flies in the face of a growing body of research showing the advantages of hybrid work models — not full-time office work — for productivity, employee performance and retention. Moreover, many organizations have tired of fighting return-to-office battles and have moved on to more important priorities, allowing their employees more flexibility. Thus, Amazon’s top-down policy stands out as a regressive approach, likely to backfire.

Why moves by Amazon and comments by Jamie Dimon don’t threaten an end to remote work benefits

If your employer lets you work remotely one or more days a week, and you highly value that kind of flexibility, you probably didn’t love hearing last week that Amazon will soon require its corporate employees to return to the office five days a week. Or even when JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, most of whose employees are already working in the office five days, publicly expressed displeasure last week that more government employees weren’t working on site in federal buildings, which he described as “empty,” according to various news reports. [ CNN Business ]

New study debunks employers’ RTO argument that remote work entrenches inequality

Academics appear to have debunked the idea that remote work entrenches inequality and leaves more wealth in the hands of a lucky few, worsening bosses’ arguments to get staff back under their noses. A study of workers in the U.K. assessed the compensation packages of people working from home to understand the financial fallout of working patterns that have become normalized since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A wave of companies have scrapped remote and hybrid work policies in recent months, including Amazon and iPhone challenger Nothing, who have argued remote work isn’t compatible with continued growth. The widespread mandate risks upending the wallets of several unprepared workers.

Yes offices that large companies are still paying leases on are empty, that's not a reason to requires employees who prefer to work in a Hybrid or Remote environment to return to the office. Certainly if their performance and quality of life has improved over the last five years. Write off the rent as a loss, thank me when you release your fiscal results next year.

Do you work for a company contemplating a RTO? Would you welcome or oppose a change?Which do you prefer? Remote totally, a balanced Hybrid, or you can't wait for office temp burnt coffee?