Marq Burnett – Associate Editor, The Playbook, The Business Journals
Many organizations have championed better connectivity and collaboration as reasons for implementing more return-to-office policies. But new data suggests there may be a more nefarious reason, at least for some companies.
A recent survey from ResumeTemplates found 1 in 10 companies are increasing in-office days as a way to push employees to quit, with half citing it as a strategy to avoid layoffs.
The return-to-office debate was recently thrust back into the spotlight after Amazon.com Inc. CEO Andy Jassy’s announcement that employees would be required to return to the office five days a week starting in January.
According to the ResumeTemplate survey, more than one-quarter (26%) of companies have already expanded RTO requirements this year, and an additional 12% expect to change their policies by the end of the year. Additionally, 9% of businesses will make the change in 2025.
Julia Toothacre, ResumeTemplate’s chief career strategist, said in the report there are a host of factors for why companies may be moving toward increased RTO.
“One of the main ones — which most companies are reluctant to admit, but did reveal in this poll — is the hope that employees will quit, allowing them to avoid layoffs,” Toothacre said. “Additionally, many companies own buildings or have long-term lease contracts and want to make use of the space. Finally, some companies simply don’t trust their employees or, after experiencing a few employees taking advantage of work-from-home, assume all employees are doing the same.”
More companies push for full in-office work in 2025
While Amazon is the latest company to make waves by announcing its forthcoming in-office requirement, it’s not the only one planning to switch to full in-office work in 2025.
The report found, of the companies that have increased RTO days or that plan to by 2025, 34% have increased or will increase the in-office attendance requirement to five days per week.
Beyond that, 25% said they are shifting to four days, 28% are moving to three days and 14% to one or two days per week.
When it comes to employee preferences, 6 in 10 companies admitted they are ignoring workers who want hybrid or remote work. C-suite executives (51%) are the main drivers for more in-office days, followed by senior management (41%) and human resources (7%).
Toothacre said executives and senior management want more control because they believe they can manage a person’s work more effectively in person.
“Physically seeing if the person is working helps them justify the position and the employee,” Toothacre said. “Leaders also want visibility because they feel they need to justify their own salaries. Does this apply to every senior leader? No, some are amazing and pay attention to their people, but those who enforce policies, knowing their people don’t want them, are looking for a power grab.”
How workers are responding to RTO policies
As The Playbook has previously reported, some workers are finding ways to skirt in-office requirements.
Another recent survey from ResumeBuilder found 1 in 5 workers aren’t following their companies’ RTO policy. The report, which surveyed 1,030 U.S.-based full-time workers for companies that implemented RTO since 2020, also found the majority of workers want to be in the office three days a week or less, despite many organizations pushing for a full-scale return.
One bright side for organizations? According to the report, 78% of respondents said they are abiding by their company’s RTO policies, compared to the 18% who say they occasionally find a way to work around the policy. A much smaller group admitted to more frequent non-compliance with the rules, with 2% saying they rarely follow the policy and 1% claiming they don’t follow it at all.