A new report examining the reception of return-to-office (RTO) mandates in U.S. workplaces finds that remote work can be psychologically healthy, although there can be some stress in the office.
The report (PDF) titled “Return-to-Office Mandates and the Future of Work,” published by Great Place to Work, a self-proclaimed “Global Authority on Workplace Culture,” contains some key findings: employees are 27% more likely to enjoy their jobs, 60% less likely to quit, and 67% more likely to put in more effort if they can do their jobs from anywhere they want.
Another key finding is that “employees of color reported relief from unconscious bias and code-switching when working remotely,” similar to how research has also shown that Neurodivergent employees may burn out more easily thanks to the energy required to mask their condition.
RTO NO THANKS
If you’re thinking, “wait a minute, these numbers are a little low,” it’s safe to say there’s a significant gap in the survey: 65% of all respondents worked remotely anyway, only 16% worked remotely full-time, and 20% did so “sometimes.”
When I was asked about this by Ars TechniqueGreat Place to Work pointed to the sample size of 4,400 employees as evidence that the study is still representative of remote and on-site workers. But honestly, it’s not, right?
There is some reluctance here. “Working from home is not magic bullet (emphasis theirs) for a better workplace culture, which is nominally true, because it includes things like pay raises, management hierarchy, team structure and annual leave policies. However, if remote workers are generally happier and more productive than their on-site counterparts, which the study does point to, then that does suggest it’s a bit of a boost.
For example, in the report, Great Place to Work defines a “great workplace” as, overall, encouraging a healthy work-life balance, caring about its employees as people, and “fostering a psychologically and emotionally healthy workplace.” It’s not a stretch to say that these things are easier to achieve and maintain oversight when employees have a choice about where they work.
Even more simply, working from home gets more people into work in the first place and, as even Great Place to Work has suggested, makes more people feel comfortable at work. So it just seems logical to give employees a choice of where they work.
And for the nth timeIf you mandate RTO because your infrastructure sucks or because you pretend to care about “connectivity,” you are placing the blame squarely on the employee, who shouldn’t have to. and fortunately mostly not fell into the trap.
Through Ars Technique