In this week’s Q&A With Jane, a frustrated manager writes in about employees resisting a return-to-office policy. Jane Harper, our resident advisor at The HR Digest, explains how to balance leadership’s business goals with employees’ desire for flexibility. She emphasizes that understanding both sides, piloting hybrid solutions, and making office days meaningful can transform tension into collaboration.
Jane also advises managers to clearly communicate non-negotiable in-office expectations while offering flexibility where possible to reduce pushback. By treating hybrid work as a strategic balance rather than a mandate, leaders can improve productivity, boost employee engagement, and foster a positive workplace culture in the modern remote vs in-office era.
Dear Jane,
I’m leading a mid-sized marketing team at a fast-growing company. Leadership recently announced a three-day return-to-office policy, but my team is resisting. Some say they’re more productive at home, others cite commute stress, and a few outright refuse to comply. It’s creating friction between leadership’s expectations and my employees’ pushback.
I don’t want to lose good people over this, but I also can’t openly ignore the policy. How can I balance what the company wants with what my team clearly needs in this new hybrid era?
— Caught in the Middle
How to win the Remote vs. In-Office Tug-of-War
First, know that you’re not alone, this is one of the most common conflicts leaders face today. The pandemic gave employees a taste of flexibility, and now that many organizations want people back, resistance is natural. But this isn’t an unsolvable tug-of-war. With the right approach, you can transform the conflict into a collaborative redesign of how your team works best.
Understand the Why (on Both Sides)
Leadership’s reasons for bringing employees back usually include culture, collaboration, and oversight. Employees’ reasons for resisting? Autonomy, focus, and work-life balance. Neither side is wrong—just incomplete. Your first step is to listen. Gather anonymous feedback through a quick survey or one-on-one check-ins. Ask: What part of office work adds value to your role? What part feels like wasted time? This helps you build a bridge instead of a barrier.
Pilot Flexibility
Instead of imposing the full three-day mandate at once, propose a trial hybrid plan. For example, bring the team in for two anchor days (say Tuesdays and Thursdays) where collaboration is intentional while keeping other days flexible. This compromise shows leadership you’re aligned with company goals, while signaling to employees that their needs matter.
Make Office Days Worth It
Employees won’t rush back just to sit on Zoom calls they could have taken at home. Use in-office time for activities that can’t be replicated remotely: team-building lunches, whiteboard problem-solving, mentorship, or creative workshops. When the office becomes a hub of connection and learning, and not just another cubicle, attendance feels valuable, not forced.
Manage the Non-Negotiables Clearly
If leadership insists on a minimum number of in-office days, frame it not as punishment but as a shared expectation. Communicate early, set boundaries, and explain why it matters. Transparency reduces resistance, even if the policy isn’t popular. Pair this with flexibility where possible, like staggered arrival times to ease commuting stress.
Be a Translator, Not Just a Messenger
Your role is to interpret leadership’s directives in a way your team can absorb, and your team’s concerns in a way leadership can understand. If you can demonstrate to executives that productivity and retention improve with hybrid balance, you become a problem-solver instead of just a middle manager stuck in the crossfire.
This is less a war and more a negotiation. Leaders who create intentional office experiences while respecting employees’ need for flexibility will not only survive this transition but thrive in it.
You don’t have to choose between company loyalty and team trust, you can hold both, with empathy as your anchor.
Are you facing a tricky workplace dilemma? Write to Jane Harper with your questions on workplace conflict, policy issues or people management problems. Your situation could be featured (anonymously) in a future column.
Don’t let the changing world of work derail your hiring instincts. Send in your HR queries with the subject line ‘Ask JANE HARPER’ at info@thehrdigest.com.
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“Leadership’s reasons for bringing employees back usually include culture, collaboration, and oversight.”
For many workers, the reasons seem to be more tied to propping up commercial real estate values, maintaining tax breaks, and exerting control over the workforce as opposed to anything that actuallly supports work getting done.
For this, the worker base absorbs all the costs (time, gas, vehicle wear-and-tear, etc) and all the benefits go elsewhere.
This, to me anyway, is the crux of the disconnect.