To return, or not to return? Is 2025 the year we rethink the office?
As we step into the new year, could 2025 be the year we reshape working arrangements for good?
Amazon is enforcing a full-time return to the office this month.
Will other companies follow suit with rigid mandates? Or will they adopt smarter strategies that foster connection, innovation, and well-being while addressing employee concerns about returning to the office?
Mandates vs engagement
When Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, first announced his reversal of working arrangements - away from remote working to a full-time office return - it sent shockwaves through the corporate world: Would this spark a domino effect?
If Amazon’s announcement has you or your company rethinking the role of the office, it’s worth pausing to consider your approach.
Because Jassy’s directive style might not be the most effective approach. While his announcement was undeniably clear and left little room for misinterpretation, top-down blanket mandates tend to lack decency, and risk falling short of their goals due to negative reception and resistance.
The case for the office
The data speaks a clear language:
Employee resistance to returning to the office remains strong.
Research fails to show any performance gains from forced returns.
Forced returns often result in a decline in employee satisfaction and engagement.
Yet despite all this, many companies are keen to bring employees back, at least some of the time. Why? The motivation seems to largely stem from a desire to restore culture, cohesion, and opportunities for learning and development.
And there’s good evidence to support this. Microsoft’s annual Work Trend Index, which surveys 31,000 people across 31 countries, highlights that remote working erodes social capital.
Not even the best technology can fully replace the connection we make when we are physically present with others. And it’s hard to deny there are other unique benefits to working in an office, especially for:
Early career professionals: How do you learn what professionalism looks like if you can't witness it first hand?
New joiners: Integrating into a company's culture is much easier when people are physically present.
Difficult or development conversations: Are difficult conversation as successful online as they are in person? Both managers and employees seem to agree that certain interactions are simply better and easier face-to-face.
How to successfully get your team back to the office
Given the challenges even high-profile leaders face in securing the smooth return to the office, how can you ensure your team transitions positively?
Here are a few ‘do’s and one important ‘don’t’:
✅ Do have clarity about why you want people back. Ensure your reasons for bringing people back are clear and compelling. One recent study showed that for 44% of UK bosses, an office return was for little more than ‘keeping up appearances’. That’s not good enough!
✅ Do communicate clearly: Talk to your team! Share your reasons for an office return and explain the benefits to them and the wider business. Avoid vague justifications like “It’s always worked for me,” which ignore other peoples’ diverse experiences and circumstances.
✅ Do be decent and fair: It’s perfectly reasonable to set the office as the default location for work but be open to adapting when this simply doesn’t work. Listen to peoples’ concerns and needs, explore solutions, and be honest about the need for compromise on all sides.
✅ Do experiment. Chances are your first solution won’t be perfect. Be willing to try, evaluate, and adjust as business and employee needs evolve. After all, policies should adapt to serve the organisation, not the other way around.
✅ Do make the office return attractive: Create reasons for people to want to come in. Schedule anchor days, ensure essential resources (like desks) are available, and encourage interaction. Don’t bring people back only for them to sit on Zoom all day or work in isolation.
❌Don’t issue blanket mandates: Top-down, ‘all or nothing’ mandates, rarely land well. People react poorly when their autonomy is removed. Customise your approach to suit the unique needs of tasks, teams, and individuals.
Rethinking the Office in 2025
Instead of enforcing rigid mandates, let’s focus on creating environments that naturally draw people back. By prioritising clarity, fairness, and engagement, we can foster workplaces where collaboration, connection, and innovation thrive. On terms that work for everyone.
January 2025
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