Working from home isn’t hurting companies

Many corporate bosses want employees to return to the office rather than to work from home, but a new US study suggests the benefits are more imagined than real.

The study, Return-to-Office Mandates, looked at S&P 500 companies that had implemented policies mandating workers to return to in-office working. Return-to-office (RTO) mandates were more common in companies with male chief executives and among poorly performing firms.

Far from it boosting productivity, the researchers found no difference in companies’ financial or stock market performance following the mandates. Furthermore, there were “significant declines” in employees’ job satisfaction ratings. Overall, the findings suggest managers use RTO mandates “to reassert control over employees”, say the researchers, “and blame employees as a scapegoat for bad firm performance”.

[ Commuting is back: ‘When you’re leaving at 7am and coming home at 7pm, you’re missing your kids growing up’ ]

[ Is working from home as productive as it's cracked up to be? ]

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