Calling employees back to work should result in an office full of workers, but the response to RTO continues to remain low. Workers are ignoring RTO orders, choosing to operate from home or finding other ways to circumvent instructions when possible. It is evident that RTO efforts are stalling despite employers using threats of layoffs and punitive actions against them.
Some employers, like Paramount, AT&T, and Amazon, have enforced a full-time return to work mandate. They have even gone so far as to offer unwilling employees a chance to accept a voluntary buyout if they don’t want to comply. Other employers, like Microsoft and Standard Chartered, have turned to a hybrid setup, allowing workers to enjoy some time working from home while also collaborating with colleagues within the office space. Still, despite the accommodations, the return-to-office pushback continues to mount.
Workers are ignoring RTO orders and finding ways to work remotely, showcasing a growing divide between employers and employees. (Image: Pexels)
Workers Ignore RTO Orders Despite Increasing Surveillance
Organizations are actively cutting back on remote work across industries, calling for a united return to the office for better face-to-face collaboration and supervised productivity. Businesses, both big and small, have made explicit demands for workers to come back to work in person, with a large number of these mandates focused on a full-time return. Unfortunately for them, announcing the RTO policy has not been enough to bring workers back into the office.
Employers have explored solutions like attendance tracking, cellphone and laptop monitoring, and other surveillance methods, and while some of them have sufficiently managed to catch workers evading RTO policies, others have only served to frustrate those who do show up to work. AT&T, for example, has had to ease its surveillance measures after workers expressed their struggles with the system. The company also found that the attendance tracking methods were not accurate enough to give them the full picture.
There is also a difference in workers defying RTO mandates based on the nature of the policy. With one day of mandatory in-person work, compliance is easy to secure. But as the number of days increases, the rate of compliance drops. Hybrid solutions have been found to be more successful than full-time in-person work, but there are issues in enforcement here as well.
Average Office Attendance Remains Lower than Expected
Trends like coffee badging have grown in popularity, with workers showing up in person for only part of their shift and leaving at the first chance. Workers are failing RTO mandates intentionally, resistant to the idea that they can be forced to come to the office or quit if they don’t want to comply. The resistance to RTO policies has been greatest among fully remote workers, particularly those who would have to move closer to their jobs in order to comply with the RTO mandates.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford economist, claims that despite the rise of RTO mandates, Americans still work from home about a quarter of the time, much like they did in 2023. Despite efforts to inspire agreement with these mandates, the RTO response remains low.
Workers Are Committed to Remote Work, Despite A Range of Strategies
From ultimatums to messages of unity and strength, employers have tried a couple of different methods to coerce employees to return to the office, but these have not been entirely effective.
Dell was among the first businesses to seek RTO compliance, using the threat of halted promotions to bring workers back. However, employees were more than happy to be skipped over for a promotion if it meant that they could work from home.
Newer studies have confirmed that workers will even accept a pay cut just to continue operating remotely. The scale of workers defying RTO mandates makes it evident that employees do not intend to budge on their preferences, and the more that employers push them to comply, the more they resist submitting to authority.
RTO Mandates Have Struggled for Reasons Other than Worker Compliance
As workers ignore RTO orders to continue operating from home, there are many other stumbling blocks that employers have faced. One of the biggest challenges of enforcing RTO policies has been the lack of facilities to host the entire workforce. Employers who hired rapidly during and after the pandemic are finding their office facilities insufficient to support their workers. This has resulted in increasing complaints from frustrated employees struggling to find a table or parking at work.
There are also disparities in how the policies are enforced. Some managers are willing to allow workers to ignore RTO orders, which makes it difficult to say no to others. Particularly with top performers, there is the risk of employees quitting if pushed too far to comply.
It is possible that in the coming years, workers will have no choice but to work in person if the large majority of businesses go back to full-time on-site work. But as long as the option of remote work is available, it is likely that employees will stay on the lookout for remote work opportunities. This disorganized work culture and friction between employers and employees will only lead to further issues if left unresolved.
Why do you think workers ignore RTO policies? Is there a way to increase compliance? Share your thoughts with us. Subscribe to The HR Digest for more insights on workplace trends, layoffs, and what to expect with the advent of AI.