Matt Bailey asks: How can mandates for employees to return to the office be more effective?
Nearly half (42%) of businesses a href=”https://www.facilitatemagazine.com/content/news/2025/04/29/return-office-rising”>planned to make a full return to the office/a> – placing them amongst companies like a href=”https://www.raconteur.net/talent-culture/which-companies-are-enforcing-office-returns Nearly half of companies plan to return to work, placing them in the same league as Amazon , Barclays , Boots , Dell , and Disney .
In the rush to get people back, it is often forgotten that a more important question must be asked: do these mandates work?
Mandates can be used to set expectations, such as how often employees are expected to come into the office. But without clear visibility it’s impossible to tell if these expectations are met. In many cases, this is not the case. Researchers found that only two out of five UK workers will comply with the full-time RTO requirement. This is down from 54% by 2022.
The workplace has also changed. Many businesses try to dust off old playbooks and apply them in a modern era only to be met with resistance and noncompliance.
In many cases it is not the mandate that employees resist, but the office. Even well-intentioned policy will fail if the office environment does not support how people prefer to work. The success of RTOs cannot be determined by mandates alone. It’s important to have an honest, clear view of what works and what doesn’t, as well as how the workplace should evolve in order to support meaningful, in-person work.
Understanding what is really going on in the office is essential.
Change is in the air
RTO mandates have good intentions for many organizations. In-person work is seen by some leaders as a means to improve productivity, increase culture, and boost collaboration. All of these goals are valid, but achieving them is much more difficult.
“Returning to work isn’t merely a change in logistics; it’s a chance to redesign your workspace, with people and purpose as its foundation”
Many RTO policies are based on a “carrot-and-stick” approach, which combines incentives with potential penalties in order to encourage employee compliance. This includes incentives such as commuter subsides, on-site health amenities, improved workspaces, and tailored face to face training. Some organisations take a more aggressive approach, even limiting bonuses for employees that don’t adhere to the mandate.
It’s obvious that the leadership wants to bring people back into the building. Intention alone is not enough. If the RTO policy is not supported by visibility in real life, it can fail. Businesses rely on their own hope instead of knowing what is happening in the real world.
Data-driven RTO: The Case for It
For organisations to gain this level of visibility, they need robust data that is updated in real time. It should include two key areas: Attendance – who comes in when and how often – and Productivity – how the workspace supports work. This includes factors such as noise levels, meeting room use, and collaboration.
These two data points combined can show how an office is actually used, and whether RTO policies work. On paper, an organization may report high team attendance, but find that most employees book solo rooms in order to avoid the noise of open-plan offices. If the goal of this mandate was to encourage collaboration, then this shows a clear disconnection between intention and environment.
JP Morgan, and Amazon discovered this lesson the hard way. Inaccurate data led to a shortage of desks during the implementation of their RTO mandate. This costly mistake shows the dangers of assumptions. Even the most well-intentioned policy can be ruined by a lack of quality data. This impacts employees, operations and customers.
Workplace management system that can be configured
Obviously, the right tools are needed to collect these insights. Many organisations face challenges in this area. The workplace solutions of today are inflexible and difficult to integrate, and they’re even more difficult to scale to multiple locations. They don’t meet the needs of hybrid or in-person work.
Collaboration becomes easier when employees feel supported and not forced by creating environments that are resource-rich, responsive, and supportive.
It is difficult to integrate these tools with existing systems which manage on-site bookings or access. These tools are often unable to keep up with workplace changes, such as new hybrid policies, or changing usage patterns. Imagine trying to fit puzzle pieces that are not matched together. It will only cause friction. It shouldn’t work this way. After all, the software should be able to adapt to your requirements, not vice versa.
Organisations need platforms that are flexible and integrated, which follow the rules they have created. This approach allows the platform to use data from existing systems, such as desk booking software, and track attendance. A platform agile will also allow organisations to measure productivity using occupancy sensors.
These insights are not just about measuring – they also enable positive changes. It could be that live occupancy data helps employees find quieter zones and reduces the need to use solo meeting rooms. This data can help organisations determine which days are most popular with employees, and then adjust their policies to reflect the current preferences of the staff.
Data-enabled workspaces are not just about RTO compliance. They make working in the office more enjoyable. Collaboration becomes easier and frustrations about factors such as resources and noise can be eliminated by creating environments that are resource-rich and responsive. This could eventually reduce the need to enforce strict rules, as people will simply want come in.
It’s not a quick fix
The workforce of today operates in an entirely different environment, and the traditional methods and tools simply do not cut it. Businesses need to adapt and move past the way they used to think. The return to the office doesn’t only mean a change in the workplace. It’s also an opportunity to redesign it with the people and the purpose at the core.
This is not an all-in-one process. It’s continuous. RTO policies need to be constantly reevaluated based on feedback and evolving usage. This can be a low-friction and high-impact process with the right technology: Capture. Analyse. Adjust.
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