Recent return-to-office (RTO) mandates like those at UPS and Boeing have a simple message: Come back to the office five days a week. CEOs cite productivity as a core reason for these proclamations, even in the face of employee resistance. Many executives simply don’t trust that employees are as effective as possible when managers can’t see them at their desks.
But in a world of globally distributed teams, falling back on management-through-monitoring is falling back on the weakest form of management — and one that drives down employee engagement. There is mounting evidence that mandates don’t improve financial performance. Instead, they damage employee engagement and increase attrition, especially among high-performing employees and particularly those with caregiving responsibilities.
There is a better way forward, but it requires culture work at the top as well as deep within organizations, along with a significant upgrade in management philosophy. Too many organizational cultures use face time at the office as their metric for productivity. That’s not the best benchmark. Instead, focusing on outcomes while providing trust and flexibility about where and when to get work done allows individuals and organizations to thrive.
The bottom line is that when trust is balanced with accountability, people and organizations will thrive. The time employees save by not having to commute can be put toward their jobs or their personal lives. Judging employees on the outcomes they drive, not whether they’re showing up to an office after a grueling hour in traffic or on public transportation, reinforces two key elements: first, that the company takes accountability for performance seriously, and second, that people will be rewarded for their performance. Instead of focusing on internal debates about policies, mandates, and monitoring, employees can focus on delivering outcomes.
By Brian Elliott / MIT Sloan Management Review
