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A 2024 study of S&P 500 firms found that companies often mandated a return to the office after stock prices fellhoping in-person work would spark productivity and improve financial performance. But is that really working? Experts offer their insights, opinions, and advice here. Invest in Systems, Not Just Office Space Return to office mandates are making the rounds again. The reasons most often given are collaboration, innovation, and productivity. The truth is, if those outcomes are the real goal, they will not happen just by getting people back in the same building. Where people sit matters far less than how they are set up to work. Too often, RTO is rolled out without any meaningful investment in the systems, tools, processes, and environments that make collaboration and innovation possible in the first place. A recent report from Australia’s Productivity Commission found that hybrid work does not harm productivity. The real drop in performance comes from a lack of investment in technology and systems that would allow people to do their best work. If your infrastructure is outdated or your processes are clunky, getting everyone in the office will not change the result. The cost of this gap between intent and execution is real. In cities like Atlanta, employees can lose two to three hours a day just commuting. That is time that could be spent on focused work, creative problem-solving, or even rest, all of which directly improve output. Once they arrive, many are still working with the same outdated tools, inefficient workflows, or uninspiring environments, which means productivity does not go up. In some cases, it gets worse. We know hybrid can work when it is done with intention. Stanford research shows employees who work from home two days a week are just as productive, equally likely to be promoted, and 33% less likely to resign than those who are in the office full time. Other studies have shown remote and hybrid setups reduce sick days, limit distractions, and improve satisfaction, all of which support performance. The key is to design work intentionally. If you want more collaboration, upgrade your collaboration tools. Redesign meetings so they actually create space for ideas. Use in-person time for high-value activities like mentoring, creative brainstorming, and relationship building. I am not anti-office. I am pro-employee. That means creating an environmentwhether remote, hybrid, or onsitethat allows people to do their best work and deliver real results. The leaders who focus on removing barriers, upgrading systems, and trusting their people will see gains in productivity no matter where their teams sit. Lena McDearmid, Founder & CEO, Wryver Design Intentional Ways of Working The discussion about workplace flexibility often centers on where people workoffice versus remotebut the “where” matters far less than the “how” and “why.” When leaders mandate return-to-office without purpose or empathy, they risk damaging culture, breaking trust, and draining engagement. This is because people quickly see the disconnect between stated reasons and lived reality; there are far too many examples of employees dutifully coming in to “collaborate” only to spend the day on video calls. Conversely, there are examples of leaders trying to reach employees only to find that they are not actually working remotely but completely disconnected from their laptop. It has become a battleground of wills. Offices aren’t the enemy, and neither is remote work. The better approach is to define the goal and maximize the purpose of each: offices for in-person connection and collaboration; remote for focused work and flexible well-being. Aim to maximize the benefits of each mode of work while removing friction that makes intentions and reality misalign. For instance, if in-office days are for collaboration, limit video calls those days and design connection opportunities like meals, live meetings, and in-person training. If remote work raises concerns about availability, set clear expectations for when and how to be accessible. This is what I call designing “ways of working,” which can become both a business advantage and a culture catalyst. My approach is to turn these “ways of working” into a framework of philosophy statement, much like a compensation philosophy. When I help organizations write this, it articulates the purpose, principles, and expectations for how, when, and why people gather in person versus work remotely as well as what “flexibility” is defined as within that culture. Done well, it becomes a shared compass that is honest about business needs, clear about collaboration goals, and grounded in values. When “ways of working” are defined and designed to honor both organizational and individual needs, rather than making it a zero-sum choice, performance and engagement increase. Angela Heyroth, Principal, Talent Centric Designs Hybrid Model Boosts Collaboration and Creativity The return to office has actually had a really positive impact for us. Being back in the same space has brought a level of energy and focus that’s hard to replicate remotely. We’ve found that casual in-person interactions, those quick hallway chats or spontaneous whiteboard sessions, lead to faster decision-making and more creative problem-solving. There’s just something about being able to look across the room and get instant feedback that helps keep momentum going. For example, when we were working on a major product update earlier this year, having the team together allowed us to collaborate more fluidly across departments. What might’ve taken a few days of back-and-forth over Slack or Zoom happened in one afternoon. That speed and alignment directly impacted our launch timeline and let us respond to customer feedback much faster. That said, I don’t think the solution is forcing everyone into the office five days a week. The future is flexibility. What’s worked best for us is a hybrid model where we use office time intentionally, for collaboration, planning, and building team connection, while still giving people the autonomy to focus remotely when it makes sense. It’s not about going back to how things were, but using the office as a tool when it adds real value. Mark Yeramian, Co-Founder, CEO, Moast.io Build Trust Through Flexibility and Leadership The RTO push is the wrong approach to ensure long-term business success. When a large employer makes this decision, it communicates to employees that they can’t be trusted, that they are cogs in a machine, and that work and profit are more important than the people generating it. The RTO push is a surefire way to dramatically decrease psychological safety in your organization. Psychological safety builds certainty. When we feel safe, certain, and trusted, our brains are better equipped to think critically, properly define problems, and effectively collaborate to create solutions that add real value and rofit to our businesses. Mandating in-person work will both increase stress for loyal, productive employees and motivate your top performers to seek employment elsewhere. Bringing people in to be babysat is wasting your time and creating a tense environment where great employees cannot do great work. Work with stakeholders to define clear, measurable outcomes with specific deadlines, and collaborate as a team to accomplish the shared goals you’ve chosen to prioritize. A better approach than RTO is building meaningful relationships with your direct reports, and asking that they do the same. People are what drive our businesses forward. Schedule a weekly team huddle. Hold one-on-ones with the individuals who report to you. Learn what’s going on in their work and in their lives. Give positive, specific feedback regularly so your staff’s confidence grows along with their trust in you. If you need to see people to believe they’re working, you don’t have a productivity problem; you have a leadership problem. Kate Vawter, Founder and CEO, Ascent Solutions Focus on Fixing How Work Gets Done Forced return-to-office policies often send the message: “We don’t care about accessibility or diversity.” Remote work opened the door for people with disabilities, caregiving duties, or those living far from expensive office hubs. At a global tech company where I worked on the workplace effectiveness team, we found that productivity suffered not because people were remote and distributed, but because meetings were scheduled excessively, poorly planned, and lacked clearly documented outcomes. Meetings are just one of many types of interruptions that happen frequently throughout an average employee’s day. If companies focused on fixing how work gets done, instead of where, it would drive far better results and keep employees feeling productive. Megan Rees, Head Therapist, Head Coach, Founder, Megan Rees, LPCC and Megan Rees, Coaching & Consulting Flexible Work Weeks Test Productivity Theories The Return to Office push would be received much better if it wasn’t coupled with layoffs. Albeit, employees are probably not going to be enthusiastic, but some people would be more receptive if not for their colleagues now being without a job and their duties now being theirs. The quiet firing trend pushes employees to the office, in hopes that some will resign and the company can avoid public layoffs and/or severances, but the damage is exponential and slow to erase. For the remaining employees, you now have the feelings of employment instability running rampant and forced proximity converging into a negative mantra being shared over and over during their coffee breaks or at the water cooler. Employers fail to see that when employees are allowed to remain Work From Home or flexible, they mostly communicate on projects or day-to-day collaborations via emails, chats, and video calls. So negative opinions are suppressed naturally because few employees want to have their negative feelings in print or recordings. Instead, with the forced RTO, you’ve successfully shoved employees together, even the ones that don’t communicate day-to-day with every business unit, and they are now free to grumble together. Solidarity amongst employees should be preferable when there are benefits gained, not lost. Staying flexible with office days is a better way to test those productivity theories. Is it that employees are less productive at home, or is it that goals are unclear and accountability is lacking? In my experience, it’s most often the latter. Flexible work weeks also allow for those employees that do better in a more structured environment, the option of doing so without the need for negative feedback from those employees that do well from home. Annalee Malone, Benefits & Compensation Manager, Total Safety U.S. Inc Hidden Costs of Return-to-Office Mandates Many businesses don’t realize how much money return-to-office mandates will cost them. For most businesses, office space is one of the biggest fixed costs. It usually makes up 10 to 20% of all operating costs. When companies require RTO, they need to make sure they have enough space for their employees, which is usually 150 to 200 square feet per employee when you include common areas, meeting rooms, and collaborative spaces. The operational infrastructure becomes more complicated and expensive beyond the rent. The cost of utilities increases significantly. For example, electricity for lighting, heating, and cooling commercial spaces can cost two to three times more than for homes. Companies need to spend money on high-speed internet infrastructure that can handle dozens or hundreds of users simultaneously, as well as robust IT security systems for networks that are located on their own property. The financial impact also includes amenities that modern workers expect in the workplace, such as ergonomic furniture, kitchen facilities, coffee services, cleaning services, security systems, and parking arrangements. For growing companies, these costs of doing business directly compete with revenue-generating investments. Every dollar spent on office overhead is a dollar not spent on activities that truly help a business grow and increase its stock price, such as developing new products, running marketing campaigns, or acquiring new customers. Ryan McDonald, COO, Resell Calendar Remote Flexibility Crucial for Global Teams Requiring people to return to the office as a solution to declining stock prices is a temporary fix that may do more harm than good, particularly in industries where dispersed workforces are the norm. This is the case in blockchain, where I have witnessed projects lose momentum within weeks because remote flexibility was eliminated. This could include teams that used to work effectively together across six or more time zones simply stalling in their workflow as they were pushed into a smaller time window. This transition involved a delay in decision approvals of up to 48 hours, which used to take place on the same day. The fact that the change was considered to be operationally reactive as opposed to being financially strategic undermined trust, which proved to have a direct impact on the quality of output. It also has a quantifiable cost of talent that most people do not consider. As I have experienced myself in advising high-growth businesses, the potential hiring pool was reduced by almost 40% due to strict in-office requirements. This forced companies to either accept lower-skilled workers or pay employees relocation packages averaging $15,000 to $25,000 each, without a corresponding increase in output and innovation. Suvrangsou Das, Global PR Strategist & CEO, EasyPR LLC Commute Time Hinders Productivity and Balance It should come as no surprise that the RTO (Return to Office) push is backfiring. A commute adds anywhere from 2 to 10 extra hours of time to someone’s work weekoften time that’s completely unproductive. That’s time that could be spent contributing to the workplace or recharging so someone is set up to do their best work during the workday. For working parentsespecially mothersit can pose significant logistical challenges with navigating childcare and finding the flexibility needed to balance work with being a present and engaged parent. Top talent knows they don’t have to give up their flexibility just to access great opportunities anymore when remote work allows them to do it all. Bonnie Dilber, Sr. Manager, Talent Acquisition, Zapier Shift Focus to Outcomes, Not Physical Presence In my experience, the return-to-office initiative often backfires because it’s framed as a productivity solution rather than a cultural or strategic issue. On one team I worked with, leadership assumed that being back in the same physical space would naturally spark collaboration. What actually occurred was the oppositepeople felt drained from commuting, frustrated by the loss of flexibility, and less focused overall. The energy in the office wasn’t creative; it was resentful. What proved more effective was shifting the focus to outcomes instead of presence. When we established clear goals, gave people ownership, and brought the team together intentionallyfor example, for brainstorming or strategy sessionsthe collaboration was meaningful, not forced. This balance of flexibility and purposeful in-person time maintained high engagement without eroding trust. In my opinion, this is a much more sustainable approach to driving productivity in today’s workplace. Pyper L. Cali, Senior Product Manager, Generative AI Solutions, TikTok
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Womens healthcare is under unprecedented attack. Women across the U.S. are being denied access to basic reproductive healthcare and funding for research into diseases that affect women is being cut. Theres an urgent need for healthcare providers and, arguably, any brand that plays a role in womens daily lives, to step up and transform women’s health services and spaces through feminist design. Feminist design taps into womens and under-represented groups needs in order to create tools, services, and environments that combat systemic oppression. Propelled by the inequalities that surfaced over the COVID-19 pandemic, the current feminist movement is more intersectional and self-critical, shifting focus from the individual to large-scale change making. Feminist design champions equity for all. Feminist design goes beyond adapting things to make them more accessible or friendly to women and girls. The goal with this approach is to make transformational change by questioning design as an entire system, by considering the systemic biases embedded in the design processes and asking ourselves what might be possible if these are challenged. Designs inherent gender bias Like almost every industry, design has historically been shaped by patriarchal structures. With everything from smart phones to crash test dummies based on the requirements of the average male, women have been neglected by normative design. The Women in Global Health report found that during the pandemic only 14% of female healthcare workers had properly fitted PPE. The industry continues to be male dominated; A survey by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) in 2019 showed that women make up 61% of the design workforce but only 24% are in leadership roles. The design of healthcare facilities is often rooted in hierarchical, paternalistic doctorpatient dynamics with environmental conditions that disfavor and often endanger women. For example, bright fluorescent lighting typical in hospitals has been found to increase stress levels and hinder the release of birthing hormones in laboring women. By contrast, feminist design explores how sensorial design can reduce stress and improve overall well-being, and shifts the emphasis to care, listening, and shared decision-making. For example, well-being is integral to the design of the Pearl Tourville Womens Pavilion in Charleston, South Carolina. The space was designed based on feedback from patients and staff, and features calming acoustics and aims to create a more welcoming, homelike atmosphere.Likewise, the design of the Barlo MS Centre in Toronto, responds to the specific challenges experienced by the people it servespatients with multiple sclerosisand includes a customized gymnasium, high-tech lecture spaces, and an Activities of Daily Living Lab, where patients can learn how to modify their homes. Women drive healthcare spending yet their needs are unmet As well as the obvious health and societal benefits, there is a major economic case for feminist design. An investment of $350 million in women-focused research could generate an estimated $14 billion in economic returns by increasing productivity, reducing healthcare costs, and lessening the burden of disease, according to a report from Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM). Women make 80% of healthcare spending decisions, according to McKinsey & Company research, yet solutions tailored to their specific health needs remain underfunded. This provides a huge opportunity for brands, start-ups, and healthcare providers to deliver new value by transforming women’s health services, tech, and spaces. Principles of feminist design Feminist design promotes reciprocal practices in which communities act as consultants, shaping decisions from the outset. There is no one-size-fits-all design solution: Every environment and its community is different. Problem-solving needs to be experimental and, above all, participatory. Ultimately the vision comes from within the community, and designers make the reality happen. Here are some key ways to embed feminist design into products, services, platforms, buildings, and spaces: 1. Enable people to take ownership of their health and informationEmpower women with knowledge and equip them with tools to improve their health at their own convenience. FOLX Health has done this for the LGBTQ+ community, as the first ever digital healthcare provider designed to meet the medical needs of this community, offering online consultations with medical experts and deliveries of treatments direct to peoples homes. 2. Provide comfortable and safe spacesUnderstand the needs of diverse audiences and design flexible spaces to accommodate them, from family-centric areas with play spaces for children to intimate spaces for those breastfeeding or experiencing loss or trauma. Ensure basic facilities can be adjusted to accommodate different body types and abilities. Bring psychological comfort with soothing colour palettes, natural textures, and adjustable lighting.Nature is vitalbiophilic design principles can aid healing. Prioritize natural light, curved forms, and sensory stimuli. With its beautiful, yet functional, design, the Tokyo Toilet project is an example of how design can transform the most commonplace aspects of everyday life. 3. Build education programs and resourcesHelp women monitor their health, track symptoms, and make informed decisions through user-friendly interfaces and experiences. Inspire curiosity and exploration so people build a connected ecosystem of partners and information thats expansive and accessible. This is showcased by Midi, a health platform for women over 40, where women can access virtual consultations with medical specialists trained in treating menopause symptoms. 4. Provide platforms for community voicesInclusive language, accessibility, and privacy matter. From healthcare workers to patients and architects to policy makers, create a safe space for diverse groups to share their experiences, showing trust in their expertise. Foster a sense of belonging and establish a reciprocal feedback loop to drive strong relationships and open dialogue. This approach informs womens health research platform the Lowdown, which aims to enable women to review and research their health conditions, symptoms, and medications. Designers as activists Designers have the power to make real social impact by centering their work around empathy, care, and collaboration. The most transformative waves will come from those who dare to interrogate internal design processes and challenge convention. Feminist practitioners, like pioneering architect Phyllis Birkby, have long resisted dominant power structures and imagined alternative futures. Their activism feels ever more urgent against todays political backdrop. Practices like experimental storytelling, community-building, education, an radical testing offer ways to reimagine how we live, care, and design. When mindsets shift, so too can policy.
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In the lobby of the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, an enormous sculpture made from thousands of feet of plastic twine falls from the ceiling. It’s entrancing. As you look up, your eyes take in how the fibers change color from blue to green to red to orange as it undulates across the space. While the piece looks abstract, each fiber actually has a precise meaning. The artwork was created by artist Janet Echelman is inspired by climate data guided scientists at MIT. Each strand of fiber represents the temperature of the planet over a period of time and the color signifies how hot it is, with blue and greens reflecting cooler climates than the reds and oranges. The sculpture goes all the way back to the ice age, but the most thought provoking part is our current moment, represented by a single yellow piece of twine. It then spreads out into a broad web that represents future centuries: Based on how we act right now, the future could look shockingly red or a calmer blue. As you look forward, into the museum, you see a wide range of possible pathways, from a deep red representing the worse outcomes of global warming to a more hopeful future represented by blues and greens. The piece is called Remembering the Future, drawn from the Sren Kierkegaard quote, “The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you’ll never have.” [Photo: Anna Olivella, Courtesy of MIT Museum] Echelman insists that the point of this sculpture isn’t data visualization. Instead, it is meant to take in the immensity of climate change without a feeling shock and paralysis. “It’s meant to be contemplative,” she says. “My hope is that it unleashes a sense of agency.” Echelman was first inspired to use fibers to create art in her twenties, when she saw fishermen casting out large nets on beaches in Asia. She began hand-crafting large sculptures from plastic fibers that have been displayed all over the world. In 2022, one of her works called “Earthtime 1.78” was installed in Milan. It was meant to symbolized interconnectedness, since the fibers are intertwined; the whole structure moved with the mind, reflecting how we are all subject to forces of nature. [Photo: Anna Olivella, Courtesy of MIT Museum] Echelman created this piece during her residency at the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology. For three years, she collaborated with Caitlin Mueller, a professor in MIT’s departments of architecture and civil and environmental engineering, to create software that would translate the data into a digital structure that Echelman could use as the basis of the sculpture. Raffaele Ferrari, a professor who models climate data, helped guide the research and visual different climate futures. In the lobby, museum visitors have the opportunity to play with a screen that features a digital twin of the sculpture. Using your fingers, you can digitally adjust the ropes of the sculpture, and explore the technical tools used to create it. Caitlin Mueller, left, and Janet Echelman, right. [Photo: Anna Olivella, Courtesy of MIT Museum] While the sculpture’s design required involved a lot of technology and software, the piece itself was made by hand. Echelman says that it took her team about a year to weave the pieces together. “Each piece of twine was woven slowly, bit by bit,” she says. “This is very much a handcrafted object.” Echelman says she was inspired to create the piece because she struggled to take in all the news about the state of the planet. “It’s like we’re getting texts every day in all caps telling us that the planet is on the verge of collapse,” she says. “It’s too much to think about, so I found myself avoiding the topic entirely.” She wanted to create a sculpture that would be visually intriguingsomething that makes you look at it, rather than away. And importantly, she wanted to visualize the many futures that lie ahead of us, depending on how we choose to behave in our own lifetimes. Indeed, our moment is represented by a single yellow cord. The tension of each cord is thoughtfully calibrated, but the yellow cord carries the highest tension. “It’s meant meant to reflect how much tension there is in this moment, and how much the choices we make now matter,” she says. [Photo: Anna Olivella, Courtesy of MIT Museum] Michael John Gorman, the director of the MIT Museum, says this piece was installed at the lobby of the museum, which is open to the public, so that the entire community could enjoy it. He says that people often come into this area, which has seating, to eat lunch or have a coffee from the museum’s cafe. At night, the sculpture is lit with lights to accentuate the different colors in the sculpture. “The artwork touches on one of the most important issues of our time,” he says. “We want as many people as possible to take it in.”
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