(SeaPRwire) –   Mandat kembali ke pejabat masih dirasakan seperti persamaan matematik peringkat tinggi yang malah orang paling pintar di dunia perniagaan pun tidak dapat selesaikan.

, , dan  merupakan antara syarikat terkini yang memerlukan mandat kembali ke pejabat (RTO) sepenuh masa. Tetapi beberapa mandat ini telah menghadapi halangan, termasuk kekurangan ruang pejabat dan pekerja yang tidak berpuas hati.

, sebagai contoh, berkata pada bulan September, ia mahukan tenaga kerja 350,000 orangnya berada di pejabat menjelang awal Januari. Sehingga bulan Februari, ramai daripada pejabat mereka tidak mempunyai  untuk menampung pulangan tersebut, menyebabkan ramai pekerja terus bekerja dari rumah. AT&T juga mengalami masalah yang serupa . Sebagai tindak balas terhadap mandat RTO JPMorgan, pekerja menyatakan kemarahan mereka pada platform dalaman . Syarikat kemudiannya mematikan komen. Beberapa  dan  pekerja juga telah menandatangani petisyen memprotes keperluan majikan mereka.

Apa yang hilang daripada beberapa rancangan RTO ini adalah pengiktirafan perubahan budaya, kata Jennifer Moss, strategis tempat kerja dan pengarang buku Why Are We Here?: Creating a Work Culture Everyone Wants. Tempat kerja selepas pandemik harus menggabungkan pelajaran daripada model sebelum pandemik dan era pandemik, katanya.

“Apabila kita cuba meminta orang kembali ke pejabat, kita masih menjalankan operasi pejabat dengan cara yang sama seperti dahulu,” Moss memberitahu HR Brew. “Kita tidak boleh memasukkan semula ubat gigi ke dalam tiub.”

Kenali persekitaran baru. Peningkatan kolaborasi, budaya, dan produktiviti sering disebut sebagai alasan untuk RTO, Moss said, tetapi berada di pejabat tidak semestinya membantu pekerja mencapai matlamat ini.

“Orang ramai pergi ke pejabat, malangnya, ia terasa sangat seperti berada di rumah,” she said. “Anda masih berada di , dan anda masih menghabiskan hari anda melakukan perkara yang sama tepat seperti yang anda boleh lakukan di rumah. Ia terasa sangat sewenang-wenangnya.”

Untuk memudahkan era kerja baru ini, majikan harus menerima model Moss called “the third office.” Daripada “menolak” pekerja untuk kembali ke norma sebelum pandemik, she said, employers should consider how they can incorporate the benefits of remote work, like autonomy and flexibility. To that end, a hybrid approach, she said, typically works best.

Moss juga menggesa kesedaran tentang bagaimana ruang pejabat fizikal boleh mempengaruhi pekerja. Jika a company doesn’t have enough desks, for example, she said HR leaders should rethink how employees work in the office, and create quiet or collaborative spaces outside of the open floor plan.

“The [third office] is a place where you have challenging discussions, where you learn to network, develop soft skills, be able to have team building, build up that social energy and that cohesion,” she said, adding that these activities were undervalued pre-pandemic and lost during the pandemic, and should be part of this new era.

Eventually, however, companies that require five days in the office should offer employees their own dedicated workspace, Moss said. It may seem simple, but being able to personalize a desk is something that, she said, may help employees feel more connected to their workplace.

Kenal pasti dan komunikasikan langkah demi langkah. Some executives want RTO to alleviate their own “trust issues,” without considering how it might affect employees, according to John Frehse, the global head of labor strategy at consulting firm Ankura.

“You only trust me when I’m in the office. You don’t trust me when I’m at home. What kind of a worker and employer relationship are we dealing with?” Frehse told HR Brew.

Sujay Saha, an employee experience strategist and founder of consulting firm Cortico-, emphasized the need for a plan. “Don’t make the decision and then try to figure it out, how do I make that decision happen for people…that is the biggest problem in a lot of this,” Saha said. He suggested HR start by identifying employees’ “personas,” like whether they’re working parents or belong to the sandwich generation. This can give HR a sense of employees’ needs and schedules, which can help inform what kind of RTO might make sense.

“There are pros and cons in all of this, so the most important thing that we can tackle is how we do it,” Saha said. “Maybe there is a pace at which you could do it…Reduce the pace and give people that mental adjustment time that is needed genuinely, to take care of their lives before you change [their lives].”

Frehse also advised against focusing an RTO announcement on the enforcement and repercussions of not following the mandate. Instead, communicate the steps and value-add for professional growth.

“It’s both culturally and intellectually lazy to announce a certain number of days of return to office each week, without listing in heavy detail the reasons why—not just benefits for the business, but the benefits for the employee,” he said.

Saha agreed. “Don’t do it, just for the heck of doing it…Be clear about why you’re doing it.”

This report was by .

A version of this story was published on on February 28, 2025.