The forced return to the office is the definition of insanity. Why are employers still requiring it? | Opinion

In a world where we’ve seen five consecutive quarters of declining productivity in the U.S., according to a study by EY-Parthenon using Bureau of Labor Statistics, one would think that CEOs and company leaders would question their usual tactics. After all, over two-thirds of business leaders report that they’re under immense pressure to squeeze more productivity out of their workers, according to a new Slack survey of 18,000 knowledge workers.

Yet despite the overwhelming evidence that flexible hybrid work is more productive than forced in-office work for the same roles, top executives are stubbornly herding employees back to the office like lost sheep, expecting productivity to miraculously improve. This, my friends, is the very definition of insanity.

Many CEOs are clinging to the false belief that the office is the secret sauce to productivity. It’s as if they think the office is a productivity vending machine: Insert employee, receive increased output. But the data tells a different story.

Opinion

Instead of being a productivity wonderland, the office is more like a productivity black hole. True, collaboration, socializing, mentoring and on-the-job training can thrive in the office. But focused work gets sucked into oblivion. In fact, research shows that the office is detrimental to productivity.

The great irony of an office-centric mentality is that it’s not just productivity that suffers, employee engagement takes a hit, too.

A Gallup study found that employees who could work remotely but are mandated to go to the office suffer from a lack of autonomy, leading to lower engagement. The research shows that employee engagement is lowest for those who could work remotely but are forced to show up in person full-time. And we know from extensive research that employee engagement leads to improved productivity, as well as improved retention and employee well-being.

To put it simply, expecting the office to boost productivity is a mental blind spot: the office serves a different, and very important purpose. Thus, while productivity is harmed by in-office presence, mentoring is boosted.

For instance, a recent study by scholars at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Harvard University and the University of Iowa found that software engineers located in different buildings on the same campus wrote more computer programs than those who were sitting close to colleagues. However, engineers who worked in different buildings commented less on others’ code. In other words, they were more productive, but that meant that less-experienced coders got weaker mentorship.

However, you have to be intentional about mentoring. The unspoken belief in many organizations is that if you pack employees into an office like sardines, mentoring will magically happen. In reality, office-based mentoring, especially full-time, is often inconsistent, inefficient and dependent on factors like proximity, office politics and personal dynamics, which can limit its reach and impact.

In contrast, a structured mentoring and on-the-job training program offers a more intentional and effective approach, pairing mentors and mentees based on skills, interests and goals. This targeted method ensures that knowledge sharing and personal growth are not left to chance, but rather strategically nurtured and cultivated.

Structured mentoring programs can thrive in a hybrid environment that combines the best aspects of both in-office and remote work. A balanced approach allows companies to limit in-office activities to necessary mentoring sessions, maximizing productivity and employee satisfaction without sacrificing the benefits of face-to-face interactions.

It’s time for CEOs to abandon the sinking ship of forced in-office work and embrace the flexible work revolution. The office has its place for mentoring and training, but not for productivity.

Dr. Gleb Tsipursky serves as the CEO of the hybrid work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts and authored the best-seller Returning to the Office and Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams .