The factors that are driving return-to-office mandates are less to do with productivity and more to do with investor pressure and the desire for more control, writes Daniel Snell.
The return-to-office debate has seized boardrooms and headlines alike. Recently, more than 300 University of Liverpool staff went on strike over a new requirement for three days of in-person attendance a week. Earlier this year, Barclays mandated a minimum of three days a week in the office, while Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase doubled down with compulsory five-day attendance. Now HSBC is considering a global policy requiring people back at least three days a week.
For business leaders under pressure to deliver growth, office attendance is a measurable metric. It can be presented to the board and stakeholders when productivity dips – tangible proof that action is being taken, that employees are indeed at their desks. At a time when only 10% of UK employees report feeling engaged at work, it’s an understandable lever to pull: bring everyone back in, clamp down on flexible working, and increase visibility.
Hybrid working
Hybrid working trend continues to grow despite RTO mandates
Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate
But while these policies may bring short-term clarity, they won’t fix the underlying issues. The difficult reality is that the UK’s productivity problem long predates the pandemic and the shift to hybrid working. Office occupancy is not the root cause of sluggish growth, nor is it the silver bullet that will solve it. Although some businesses may indeed benefit from getting people back into the office – with advantages including supporting young talent and building team trust – it will not alone deliver productivity.
Why CEOs are reaching for mandates
In my conversations with CEOs and department heads across industries – from finance to telecoms to pharma – one pattern is clear: investors are demanding results. If you’re overseeing a business that isn’t on the right trajectory, it becomes increasingly hard to justify a workforce that isn’t being directly supervised. In that context, mandates signal strong leadership. They’re decisive, measurable, and action-oriented.
Much like superficial culture initiatives, shiny new AI tools – or even Revolut’s latest employee tracking system – return-to-office mandates are the latest in a series of interventions used to demonstrate action and accountability.
In some cases, they do deliver advantages. From developing young talent and serendipitous water cooler conversations that spark new ideas, to building trust in how teams operate, working in person of course has its benefits. As one CEO put it: “You can run a company working from home, but you can’t build one”.
The real question is not where work happens, but how it happens – and whether managers are up to the job”
However, bringing everyone back without fixing how work is managed won’t solve underperformance. If blanket mandates become a substitute for real accountability, the result will be frustrated teams, the loss of talent, and even lower engagement.
Accounting for context
Blanket mandates continue to fall short because they ignore a simple truth: people don’t work – or add value – in exactly the same way or under the same conditions.
For some roles, remote working can attract and retain top talent, and even boost output. The right approach depends entirely on context: the business’ goals, the nature of work, and the customers being served.
The real risk is when organisations fail to account for this context, and therefore fail to manage performance properly. Trust erodes, resentment grows, and genuinely high performers start to leave. One leader told me: “The right attitude is critical – if working from home is seen as a ‘doss day’, that mindset will get into the psyche of an organisation, and drag productivity down across the board.”
A recent Michael Page survey underscores this disconnect. While 84% of employers believe their workforce is more productive in the office, nearly half of employees say they do their best work at home. This gap isn’t just about where people sit; it’s about how clearly they understand what success looks like, and how supported they feel in delivering it.
Focusing on how, not where
The real question is not where work happens, but how it happens – and whether managers are up to the job. Too many UK businesses have lost confidence in performance management altogether. Instead of tackling poor performers head-on, they make people return to the office, dangle perks, or revamp the office with beanbags and table football.
In-person attendance can absolutely be one of the tools to help build well-managed, high-performing teams, but only if it’s aligned with a business strategy driving better outcomes, and employees who are proven to be more productive in the office than at home.
Accept that there is no one-size-fits-all policy or approach. Rigid mandates alone won’t save waning productivity, and neither will unstructured flexibility”
What’s really needed is the harder, messier work: rebuilding management capability, addressing underperformance, and giving employees a clear framework for success. High-performing employees want clarity. They want to know what success looks like, how their work contributes to the bigger picture, and that their effort will be recognised, whether they do it at a desk in the city or at a kitchen table at home.
Where does this leave leaders?
First, accept that there is no one-size-fits-all policy or approach. Rigid mandates alone won’t save waning productivity, and neither will unstructured flexibility. What matters is a performance-first culture where working arrangements serve the commercial goals of the business and support each employee to do their best work.
Secondly, focus on rebuilding management capability. Businesses need to build teams where everyone understands how their daily work links to delivering the strategy, and feels empowered to make a meaningful contribution. Managers must have the skills and backing to set clear goals, create accountability, and bring out the best in people.
Getting employees back into the office may bring real benefits, but those gains will only materialise when people know exactly what’s expected of them, and how success is measured. True productivity comes from leaders with the courage to set a clear direction, hold people to it, and make tough calls when performance falls short.
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