Challenging RTO: A Strategic Defense Checklist

Your senior leaders might have a “feeling” on creating a Return-to-Office (RTO) policy.

That’s why you need facts.

If remote and hybrid work has resulted in benefits and advantages for the business, you need to speak up. Use this checklist to guide the conversation and challenge assumptions before an RTO decision gets mandated.

1. What’s the Problem We’re Trying to Solve?

When you are asked about RTO, you want to direct the discussion back to this question: Are we solving a genuine business problem? These questions can help guide the discussion:

• Are there measurable performance issues tied directly to remote work?
• Have customer satisfaction, service levels or operational KPIs declined due to remote work?
• If the concern is around culture or collaboration, is there evidence there is a problem and could alternative strategies (e.g., virtual engagement, periodic team meetups) address those gaps?

These questions are intended to guide the discussion away from opinions/feelings and toward objective business outcomes. Rather than arguing against it, you are simply asking questions and inviting discussion.

2. Have We Measured the Business Impact of Remote Work?

After asking what problem an RTO mandate is solving, you can steer the discussion to the value of the remote program. What business value may be at risk because of an RTO?

Benefits you may be able to highlight:

• Effect on attrition and recruitment
• Cost savings of real estate, wages and turnover reduction
• Impact on customer experience and/or productivity

If remote work has improved hiring, retention and cost efficiencies while maintaining performance, forcing agents back into an office may create more problems than it solves.

3. Are We Willing to Risk Increased Attrition and Hiring Challenges?

You may get to this point in the conversation and realize the senior leader is not making this decision based on data. They may just “feel” like in-office is better. This is a good time to steer the conversation to ask what risks we’re willing to accept if we push the RTO forward.

Information to provide and questions to ask:

• What percentage of agents were hired specifically for remote roles?
• What percentage of agents don’t live in a commutable distance? Will there be exceptions based on distance from an office?
• If RTO is enforced, do we have a plan to replace those who leave?
• What is the financial and operational cost of replacing lost employees versus maintaining the current model?
• Are we comfortable paying higher wages to recruit in-office employees?

At this point in the conversation, it will be clear if you have any chance of overcoming the RTO mandate. If you’re fighting a losing battle, be prepared to do your best to mitigate the impact on your team and customers.

4. What’s Our Flexibility Plan?

If leadership insists on some level of in-office presence, explore flexible alternatives:

• Can we test a one to two day in-office model before committing to full-time RTO?
• Can we run a pilot, making it easier to roll it back if things don’t go well?
• Can attendance be voluntary with incentives rather than a mandate?
• Can we offer regional co-working options instead of centralized offices?

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is, you should prepare yourself and your team to shift this conversation from a “feeling” about working in the office to an objective business discussion. If remote and hybrid work has resulted in benefits and advantages for the business, those advantages need to be quantified and communicated. Arm yourself with data and proactively communicate the value of the remote program before you have to defend it.

Hopefully you won’t be faced with a senior leader who simply prefers in office and won’t listen to your well-formulated, fact-based arguments. However, be prepared to accept the change and support it the best you can.