Return-to-Office Mandates: Drivers Behind Low Compliance

“Our CEO just issued a mandate to return to the office, but attendance hasn't changed.”

Per CRUX Workplace's recent research, we've noted that organizations are still struggling to gain adoption for return-to-office policies, with compliance rates remaining low.

Here are common barriers that contribute to low compliance: 

1. When the Policy Doesn’t Align with the Overall Business Strategy

This barrier occurs when the policy conflicts with how the business operates and key performance indicators, making the request for increased office presence a source of strain rather than a benefit. Here are two common ways this could present itself within an organization.

The Purpose for Being In The Office Is Unclear: Employees may struggle to recognize the broader benefits of spending more time in the office, especially while many report struggling under increasing workloads. Employees may fear that coming to the office could negatively impact their productivity or work quality by disrupting their established routines. Without a clear link to broader business objectives, leadership support enabling employees to prioritize in-person work, and flexibility to maintain balance, employees are unlikely to spend meaningful time in the office.

Team Meeting Schedules Conflict with Coming into the Office : Employees with schedules shaped by global calls or meetings that fall outside standard work hours—like early mornings or late evenings—find it impractical to commute. Without adjustments to meeting culture or timing, they may feel that working from home is the only feasible option. 

2. When Policies are Created Team by Team

This common barrier arises when decisions about time spent in the office are made only by team or division leaders, without overarching goals or guiding policies across the organization. Below are three common barriers to return associated with this approach.

Cross-Team Collaborations Are Diminished Without Relevant Overlaps: When return-to-office policies are set only at the team level, they often overlook the prevalence of cross-functional interactions. Employees may find themselves in the office with their team but disconnected from other departments they work with regularly, reducing the value they receive from being in the office.

Path to Achieving Strategic Benefits of In-Office Work is Unclear: While organizations may cite innovation, mentorship, or relationship-building as reasons for being in the office, activities and interactions that produce these results often require intentional in-person time that goes beyond an individual team’s deliverables or productivity metrics. Without a broader organizational strategy, teams are unlikely to universally devote time to this effort as necessary to facilitate these benefits. Additionally, these goals require intentional programming and change management to be realized—simply increasing time spent in the office does not ensure positive business outcomes.

Inconsistent Experiences Across Teams: Employees frequently note unwarranted disparities between teams with similar roles when in-office expectations are manager driven. In some cases, we've found, leaders wanted their teams in the office more often but hesitate to enforce policies without organizational clarity. Employees, in turn, have found the inconsistencies to be unfair, wishing the guidelines had more uniformity to ensure equitable treatment across the organization. 

3. When the Office Environment Doesn’t Support Modern Workstyles

This barrier arises when the office design fails to align with employees' daily activities, either because it hasn't been updated in recent years or was originally designed without engaging employees. Here are some examples of how this can manifest as barriers to return within an organization.

Outdated Technology Infrastructure: Modern work relies on laptops, mobile devices, and flexible movement within the office or between sites throughout the day. Unlike older setups with stationary desktops and landlines, today’s workplaces need to support mobility with reliable Wi-Fi, docking stations, and accessible power outlets throughout the office for employees to work effectively.

An Office Layout That is Out of Alignment with Employee Work Activities: The shift in technology and growth of dispersed teams has introduced new needs, such as private rooms for virtual calls and collaborative areas for group work. Offices that fail to provide these spaces leave employees feeling unsupported in their daily activities, driving them to seek out alternatives like home offices to complete these tasks effectively.

Isolation Created by Low Seating Density: Traditional desk assignments, where each employee has a fixed spot, can create physical and social isolation and a perception that attendance is low. This can make the office feel underutilized and discourage employees from coming in, as they are not experiencing opportunities for meaningful connection with colleagues.

In Summary

To develop and implement effective in-office policies—ones that genuinely support the success of the company rather than simply ticking the box—it’s essential to identify and reduce barriers to adoption. 

Policies that clearly link business strategies and employee activities as well as those designed to enable cross-functional collaboration will be most successful. Workspaces should be updated to accommodate modern technology and role-specific activities, supported by organizational guidelines that provide employees with clear policies aligned with the company’s culture and business objectives. 

Understanding the barriers to adoption within your organization can enhance compliance with office returns and make the policies more supportive of overall business objectives. Workplace consultants can assist companies in identifying these unique challenges and developing tailored solutions to address them effectively.

CRUX Workplace

Shaping Workplace Culture: The Leadership Impact

While a good workplace culture can sometimes develop naturally when employees enjoy working together and have time to connect, a holistic and sustainable culture is shaped by leadership. Employees look to their leaders not just for the "why" but also to model the desired workplace culture.

From our recent conversations with leaders, it’s clear that there are many ways to build a strong workplace culture. The common priorities among these top leaders were all about engagement, connection, and experience. Below, we’ll share some of the ways they put this into action.

Experiences and Relationships That Stick

While employees today value autonomy, they also seek a balance of structured opportunities to collaborate, network, and build relationships in the workplace. The most effective leaders create this structure by offering a mix of meaningful in-person interactions—such as team training, collaboration days, and company-wide events—while also setting clear and rightsized expectations for office utilization in alignment with their team's needs and the company vision.

While many leaders commented on the success of their events, some expressed concern that the "eventification" of work may lead to the perception that significant moments at work only occur during large-scale events. Serendipitous encounters often top the list of meaningful interactions and are highly desired by leaders and employees alike.

The leaders we spoke to understood the power of workplace design in enabling organic engagement opportunities such as serendipitous encounters. They advocated for flexible workspaces that support everything from individual focus work to informal collaboration and meaningful team adjacencies, inspiring natural cross-functional collaboration.

Fostering relationships within and across teams is another key aspect of building workplace culture. Strong workplace connections contribute directly to retention, and leaders who actively encourage events such as- informal team gatherings, social events, volunteering, and shared meals helped cultivate a sense of belonging and camaraderie. Many leaders emphasized that prioritizing these activities during work hours ensures inclusivity, allowing more employees to participate without sacrificing personal time. It also reinforces the company's commitment to socialization as a valuable aspect of work.

Designing and Activating the Workplace Experience

Thoughtful workplace design can inspire employees to choose the office, especially when it supports their work, relationships, and sense of connection. The best leaders sought to enhance the workplace experience by advocating for work settings that align with the activities employees seek to complete in the office. Many leaders highlighted the need for dynamic meeting spaces, breakout areas, individual focus spaces, and workplace amenities to create an environment that is both comfortable and productive.

One leader emphasized that employee input should drive these decisions, saying, "Based on this feedback, I think soundproofing meeting spaces will make people happier than new carpet." This employee-centered approach to workplace design not only fosters trust and engagement but also significantly improves office effectiveness. Leaders that valued function over finish, ensuring that their teams have the right space, equipment, and level of privacy to make the office a viable place to work saw the most success.

Modeling desired behaviors is one of the most powerful ways leaders cultivate a thriving workplace culture. For example, when employees observe leaders actively using the new types of furniture settings, mentioned above, they are more likely to do the same, reinforcing workplace culture through both design and behavior. Leadership presence goes beyond simply being in the office—it’s about participating in collaborative work, fostering informal discussions, and making time for meaningful connections.

Closing Thoughts

It’s no surprise that leaders play a major role in employee retention. They shape workplace culture, influencing whether employees feel engaged, valued, and connected to their organization. In companies where employees have a strong cultural bond but experience toxic leadership, there’s often a higher risk of departures—and those employees may take their colleagues with them.

Successful leaders create meaningful interactions that help employees grow together and strengthen relationships. They advocate for workplace experiences that align with their team’s needs, whether that means renovating office spaces, dedicating wall space to team accomplishments, or simply fostering an interactive work environment. Most importantly, these leaders are present, interacting with their teams, and reinforcing the values that drive both organizational and team success.

Workplace consultants can help leaders better understand employee needs and create experiences that empower teams to thrive. Assessments such as the Knight Index and tools like Team Agreements provide valuable insights into managing and engaging dispersed teams effectively.

Check out all the articles in our Workplace Culture 3-part series!

CRUX Workplace

#HR #Workplacestrategy #WorkplaceCulture

The Workplace Renovation Gamble

Is this how your occupancy feels?

The Workplace Gamble.

If your “Build it and they will come” approach hasn't panned out, you're not alone. It's a gamble. We’re hearing a lot about mandates and seeing less evidence that newly designed office spaces are reaping optimal occupancy results.

Not only do employees want to be included in the process of creating their new workplace, both the project and company benefit from employee engagement. We're calling this, the "Engage them and they will come" approach.

Let’s imagine this is a restaurant:

A restaurant is losing business. On what have historically been the busiest nights of the week, the restaurant is quiet. Below are two imagined scenarios.

Scenario 1- Build it and they will come. The owners decide to invest in renovating their restaurant with the latest furniture and decor, and new items on their menu. After being closed for renovation, they open up, hoping customers will flock to their restaurant. Maybe it’s a hit, maybe it’s a flop, it’s a real gamble.

Scenario 2 - When they come, I will build. Now imagine the same restaurant- digs their heals in the ground. It’s clear they need to make a change, but they want proof of use and funds to necessitate the space. They delay new investments in their restaurant, asking their customers to continue to patronize their outdated establishment, promising to make updates in the future. (ring any bells?) They are asking their customers to take a gamble – if you keep coming, when the time is right, you’ll be rewarded, maybe.

In these scenarios, there is a promise, a gamble, a hope. It's a bit of fantasy thinking, the solution is not likely to meet some groups’ expectations.

We’re seeing this in office spaces.

A company unveils a shiny new space for their employees. As employees were not meaningfully involved in the planning of the space, it doesn’t fully meet their needs. The company took a gamble with their workplace, and while the space may be beautifully designed- the lack of emotional ‘buy-in’ and functionality for employees’ needs lowers occupancy.

“If employers are looking to see employee commitment to the office prior to making informed changes- they are very likely to be disappointed. “

Optimizing Occupancy & Workplace Renovation

Now let’s talk about a reduced risk approach- the “Engage them and they will come” way.

Back to our restaurant. Upon losing business our restaurant begins speaking with customers and their workers to learn more about the state of their business. What are our best dishes, what would you like more of, how is the experience of coming here, working here? What would you like to see in this neighborhood?

Perhaps from this research, the restaurant tries out a few new sample dishes to gain feedback and show people they are listening and making changes. Then they shift their layout to experiment with service experience. They find people mostly come to them for a certain style of food and they can create more space in their menu for this type of cuisine, removing the dishes that are no longer being ordered.

Now this restaurant’s business is beginning to pick up – not because of any major changes- but because there are signs of greater attunement with their consumers. This change has immediately created a more desirable environment prior to a full overhaul. By showing interest in what their customers want, they've gained a wealth of information and fostered loyalty, delivering a clear path between customer feedback and the changes that are integrated.

"People want a high touch change where they don’t have to wait and guess what might happen, they can see the direction changing in a desirable way."

Now the restaurant is ready for their intentional renovation. As they've been creating pilot projects along the way, they feel confident their new direction will be a success. Their customers are cheering them on and telling their friends because they feel connected, valued, and exceptionally served.

An "Engage them and they will come" approach to workplace change, connects with employees throughout the process creating a solution that is built off evidence, insights, and successful pilot experiences. With the guesswork removed, the outcome will already have benchmark data as a proof of concept, ensuring the results you've invested in materialize.

There’s no need for gambling or leaps of faith with your real estate. Creating a Real Estate and Workplace Strategy with a focus on workforce engagement provides a clear and reduced risk path to a successful solution.