As the memory of the pandemic fades, the return to office (RTO) rhetoric is on the rise. With the debate about RTO policies raging, we realize another effect of the pandemic. It has widened the cultural gap between employees and employers dramatically.
Prime example – the contention with Walmart’s return-to-office mandate.
When Walmart announced its RTO mandate in May, it indicated hundreds of layoffs across its campus offices. The employee pushback was strong and many resigned in response to the power move.
Walmart is not the only company implementing RTO mandates and this tug-of-war continues. With all that happening, you might wonder.
Is there a single “right” answer to this debate?
Walmart and the Great RTO Debate
The controversy started when Walmart made it mandatory for the majority of its remote workers to move to its corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Some could also relocate to the other Walmart hubs in Hoboken, NJ, and Northern California.
One report says that the company has set the timeline for the move between August 2024 and January 2025. Employees unable to make the move will need to leave the company.
In a memo addressed to the employees, Walmart Chief People Officer Donna Morris wrote, “With the goal of bringing more of us together more often, we are asking the majority of associates working remotely, and the majority of associates within our offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and our Toronto Global Tech office, to relocate.”
There was no mention of the number of people being affected by this move. Morris added that the overall number of employees affected is small and Walmart will support everyone affected by the changes.
As per reports, remote workers were instructed to decide by the 1st of July. The options were to relocate or quit with severance. It was not clear if Walmart was offering relocation packages or paying any special incentives.
As expected, the backlash from the employees was strong. During a subsequent Zoom call where the employees discussed the mandate, discontent overflowed. One participant went as far as to call the policy:
“a bunch of bulls–t,”;
a comment that was largely highlighted.
While some employees resigned, others expressed their concerns about the challenges of relocating to Arkansas. Indeed, relocation can be challenging without the help of proper move management services. Other points of concern were the impact on their partners’ careers and childcare arrangements.
For many employees, this harsh mandate was a betrayal. To them, the manner in which employee lives are being uprooted lacks empathy and understanding.
Kelli Oakes, a Walmart employee, mentioned that she was “ devastated, embarrassed, sad, angry, defeated, and hurt” after the mandate. “…after a home purchase and life-threatening post-birth complications, my family cannot afford to relocate now or in the near future.” she adds.
To be fair, many employees have accepted the change. The new Walmart campus has been developed over an area of 350 acres to provide an enriching experience for the employee community. It includes dining options, a hotel, a fitness center, and childcare facilities, along with walking and biking trails.
Interestingly, a few years back, Walmart’s global chief technology officer Suresh Kumar, spoke about focusing on a shift towards remote work.
He wrote, “We believe the future in tech will be one in which working virtually will be the new normal, at least for most of the work we lead.” It seems that the company is changing tracks and moving in a new direction.
The general feeling is that the harsh RTO mandate is just an attempt to restructure the workforce; in other words a “layoff wolf” in disguise. It is the company’s way of avoiding legal complications associated with layoffs.
Making use of the RTO strategy also allows the company to control the narrative without hurting productivity and the overall workplace atmosphere. Announcing direct layoffs can negatively impact employee morale.
Then again, Walmart is not the only company to enforce such return-to-office (RTO) policies. Amazon, Disney, Bank of America, and Dell are some others. Last year, Google’s return-to-office strategy made use of badge tracking and earned criticism from the employees.
The list keeps growing and companies keep losing talent because of their tough RTO strategy. Even so, the business leaders are unlikely to change their policies anytime soon.
For Walmart, the loss of talent may be worth it. The mandate comes from the belief that in-office work environments result in better productivity and collaboration. That begs the question – does a headstrong approach pay off in the long run?
Defining The RTO Debate
A survey by Resume Builder points out that a large section of companies want the employees to be in the office for 4 to 5 days a week. At the same time, 80% of companies have lost talent due to RTO mandates.
Ever heard of coffee badging or quiet quitting? Well, that is the type of behavior that disgruntled employees are resorting to.
In the past few years, employee priorities have changed and they have moved away from traditional corporate culture. Many employees are not willing to step back to the old format to retain their jobs. For them sacrificing the work-personal life balance is not worth the trouble of heading back to the office.
One point of view states that the global economic challenges due to the pandemic made companies prioritize their financial survival. Now that things are back to normal, they feel the need to regain full control and the RTO mandates are a hammering tool to achieve that.
Such mandates often overlook the fact that there are lifestyle differences, pay differences, and differences in needs at various levels of a company. Moreover, the younger generations have different ideas of flexibility in work.
Julia Toothacre, a career strategist with Resume Builder, makes an interesting observation. “Older generations like going into the office, and they are the decision-makers in leadership positions,” she says.
The solution? Putting a representation of workers in the boardroom to allow them to participate in the decision-making process can be one way.
Diving deeper, it is easy to note the lack of transparency from the companies on the RTO issue. While Walmart, like many others, puts forward the “culture” excuse, the real reasons can be different. In reality, they do not want their long-term investment in real estate and office space to be wasted.
While companies will keep trying to make employees come back to the office, using threats to make the policy work is plain wrong. They need to understand that a company culture that leads to success is people-oriented and not driven by office spaces.
So where does the WFH vs RTO debate lead? Odds are that the truth is more likely somewhere in the middle and closely related to individual roles.
Being with your colleagues in the same office space definitely has its advantages. More so in some forms of technical work. For example, scientists doing research often benefit from high levels of collaboration and can be colocated.
For directors and managers, remote effectiveness may decrease with higher responsibility. Most of their work involves back-to-back meetings, and developing long-term plans and strategies. In such scenarios, being physically present can help.
But, that does not apply to all. Engineers and professionals involved in heads-down solo work can perform from remote locations.
What it all boils down to is this.
While heading back to the office can help increase productivity in some cases, it is not an absolute solution.
Such a policy should be used to motivate employees and not as a tool to control them. Keeping employee well-being in mind is a critical aspect of any RTO strategy. It is important to drive the strategy with a clear purpose and communicate with the employees to listen to their views.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, remote work is more acceptable in newer companies. The older ones prefer to remain tied to their ancient roots and are paranoid about losing control. For them, the location where the employee is doing the work becomes more important than meeting objectives. It seems the real issue that such companies have is not about WFH, but about trust.
In reality, stringent RTO policies are driving out the very employees that the company would like to retain. Many highly skilled and efficient employees will be ready to explore new opportunities instead of complying with the mandate.
Improving Productivity Evaluation
Even though the pandemic has proved that workers do not need to spend long hours in the office to deliver results, ‘presenteeism’ remains important.
The thing is, different employees deliver their best in different environments. With performance objectives being set, they should be given the freedom to make their own choices about work location.
While the current work environment presents a golden opportunity to ditch this concept, managers and CEOs are still clinging to the presenteeism culture. Business leaders still believe that RTO plans have increased productivity. Quite simply, companies need to find new ways of evaluating productivity.
Forcing an unwilling employee to be present in the office will lead to resentment and a drop in performance. Being chained to the desk does not relate to higher productivity. More often than not, loss of flexibility cannot be compensated, even with relocation packages and incentives.
Letting employees choose their work environments is the best way to improve productivity. Managers must also set clear deadlines and tangible goals for their teams and regularly track progress.
Making use of collaboration tools and remote workplace mentoring programs are other ways to check productivity. Make sure that the work environment is positive and supportive for both in-person and remote employees. Last but not least, get rid of “proximity bias,” and deploy a standardized promotion path policy.
Final Thoughts
Without a doubt, Walmart’s return to office policy has been a disaster and the backlash is expected. Forcing people to come back to the office through rigid mandates is nothing but disrespectful. On the other hand, inviting employees to collaborate is a better way to bring about a change in the work environment.
Employees want companies to be more transparent and provide logical reasons for returning to the office. Management needs to focus on employee well-being and provide the necessary flexibility to ensure that they can work stress-free.
Implementing a flexible, hybrid model is the best way to move towards a positive work environment.
As workplace dynamics keep evolving, time will tell if employees will bow down to strict RTO policies. But as the outflow of top talent increases, companies like Walmart may need to rethink their approach to return to office.