The human staff are gone, but the real concern now is whether the company can still preserve the “culture“.
After all, nothing undermines a company’s values quite like ‘staff’ that won’t work on-site to ensure they are seen by upper management, or attend morning huddles.
“Culture” has become a convenient excuse draped over hollow policies, half-empty offices, and leadership denial.
Real culture isn’t built on swipe-ins, pizza parties, or being able to pop over to a co-workers desk to collaborate.
It comes from trust, autonomy, and how people are treated – not how often they’re seen. People can actually be even lazier in the office, than what some people thing they are when WFH.
The reality is that many RTO mandates have less to do with fostering collaboration and more to do with justifying long-term commercial real estate commitments.
It’s not about people or performance – it’s about sunk costs and occupancy metrics. As long as someone (or something) is physically present, executives can maintain the illusion of culture, innovation, and engagement, even when the office itself has become little more than an expensive prop.
