Data is the key to figuring out whether an RTO strategy will be effective

Organizations are still unsure about how to handle return-to-work mandates, but one thing is for certain: the current decision process isn't necessarily working. 

About 72% of companies, which employ around 9,500 workers, have mandated staff members return to offices to some degree, according to workplace strategy company Unispace. However, 42% of those companies have suffered more attrition as a result and almost a third of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment. 

Yet some of the biggest household names are still boosting their RTO mandates. A prime example of this  is Amazon. Earlier this month, CEO Andy Jassy said that the company was making a permanent switch from hybrid work to a complete return to office starting in 2025. Experts have already anticipated that the effort will fail or lead to a large employee churn. 

Amazon has defended the decision and has argued that being in person makes it easier for workers to collaborate. "If anything, the last 15 months we've been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits," according to a statement Jassey sent to employees. 

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But with a focus on the right kind of analytics, this doesn't have to be the fate for other companies, according to Sam Naficy, CEO of employee engagement platform Prodoscore.

"I can't speak on Amazon specifically because I'm not privy to their internal information," he says. "What I can say is that we have about 85,000 employers on our platform, from the public sector to private industry, and from what we have seen the hybrid model is still the ideal productive model when using objective data." 

So what's driving employers to turn to all or nothing solutions? That continues to be widely debated. Much of it comes down to cost, specifically concerning real estate and the price of rent. Other theories say that it's to improve culture and collaboration or even that it's a strategy to stave off layoffs and instead drive employees who prefer working from home to voluntarily leave. And while the reasons vary, the truth is that 80% of bosses regret their initial return to office decisions, according to software company Envoy, saying that they would have approached their plans differently. 

"​​We're not advocating for any particular kind of mandate," Naficy says. "There's just a lot of data that could be used to facilitate whatever decision they make — whether that is a hybrid model or a full-time one — that's missing from these decisions. 

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For example, one of potentially helpful pieces of data Prodoscore offers is an organizational network analysis. This metric looks at collaboration and engagement of employees with colleagues within their departments and other departments when in office, remote or hybrid. That way organizations can make educated decisions on whether a push to return to in-person work would be more effective in the long run. 

"Historically, companies have relied on lagging indicators at the end of the month or quarter to answer questions like: How do we perform? Did we hit our quota? Did we hit our metrics?" he says. "We can now offer leading indicators that give companies visibility into outcomes like RTO before they even make the decision." 

As the world continues to become more reliant on technology, machine learning and automation, it's important for companies to use those innovations to keep up with their employees' evolving needs and demands. The conversation around return-to-work may be far from over, according to Naficy, but it should be evolving.  

"We have all of this unbelievable data around the connectivity and the interdependency of staff that can provide answers," he says. "It's about how to make sure that we're using it to mitigate negative impacts and keep our people motivated."