# The Yoyo Dynamics of Return-to-Office Mandates By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-11-10 Organizations are calling for many workers to return to the office. There is little evidence that where one works matters in terms of productivity. Most people are more productive at home. So, why are organizations mandating that employees return to the office? There are two key factors—the first is a means to get people to quit without having to lay them off. Productivity is at an all-time high with very low unemployment figures, so many companies are in a position where they can reduce their workforce and still achieve the same top-line results. However, conducting layoffs is often seen as something done when times are bad, which negatively impacts shareholder value as the company's stocks plummet. Managers of these organizations and their management consultants have learned that having things like return-to-office mandates reliably results in many employees quitting. Thus, one gets their cake and eats it too. It is worth noting that working remotely or from home has likely largely caused the productivity gains seen at these companies. So, forcing a large portion of the workforce to quit to return to the office is destined to yoyo the company back to a lower level of productivity. This brings me to the second key factor for the return to office mandates: poor leadership and management. Many people cannot reflect on their poor performance, so they think a few employees or teams are underperforming, driven by the employee's work location and freedom. They think if they could only see these people, they could manage them better and watch over their shoulders. Good leaders and managers don't think or act this way. They engage on a different level. Good managers and leaders, just like good employees, do a good job regardless of their working location. They get the job done. Poor managers and leaders can't make this work, so one reaction is to bring everyone together so they can monitor their progress. Again, we'll see a yoyo effect where productivity and morale will decline even further for underperforming teams that now must always be in visual proximity to their bad managers and leaders. At least at home, they could work in less stressful environments. The return to the office mandate represents nearly everything wrong with modern organizational power dynamics. #### Related Items [[Organization]] [[Power]] [[Remote Work]] [[Office]] [[Management]] [[Leadership]] [[Productivity]] [[Value]]