Return to Office Policies

The biggest predictor of who works from home? Motherhood. New data from the 2024 American Community Survey reveals something striking about remote work patterns. After controlling for occupation, industry, education, state, and other demographics, women with a child under 3 are 7.7 percentage points more likely to work from home than otherwise-similar men without children. That's the single strongest demographic predictor of WFH in the model. Compared to men without children, the WFH premium is large and asymmetric. Women with any child: +4.7pp. Men with any child: +1.1pp. And even women without children are +3.1pp more likely to WFH, suggesting a baseline gender gap independent of parenthood. The implication for RTO mandates is clear. WFH isn't just a perk for many working mothers — it's an enabler of labor force participation. Blanket return-to-office policies that ignore this risk losing talent they can't afford to lose. To read more, go to our latest Labor Matters.

Flexible working was supposed to help close the gender pay gap. But what if it’s quietly widening it instead? Here’s the pattern I’m seeing more and more: Men are returning to the office. Women are staying home to manage the second shift. And before anyone jumps in… This isn’t because women are less ambitious. It’s because someone still needs to: → do the pickups → manage the childcare gaps → remember the PE kits → hold everything together behind the scenes The problem? Proximity bias is still very real. Because when leadership teams spend more time physically together in the office… The people seen most often are still more likely to get: → opportunities → visibility → stretch projects → promotions Same talent. Different access. And honestly? I worry we’re creating a new version of the old boys’ club. Just this time, it’s happening via hybrid working patterns instead of golf clubs and pub lunches. Flexible working should be a tool for equality. Not a career penalty women quietly absorb in exchange for “balance”. Because if remote workers are consistently overlooked… Then we haven’t fixed workplace inequality. We’ve just moved it onto Zoom. This is why flexible working alone isn’t enough. Companies also need: → inclusive leadership → fair promotion processes → output-based performance measures → and managers trained to lead hybrid teams properly Otherwise, “flexibility” risks becoming another way women’s careers stall after motherhood. 💬 Have you seen proximity bias play out in hybrid workplaces? ❤️ Because flexibility should expand opportunities - not limit them

Offices Must Provide What WFH Can’t The appeal of WFH is undeniable: no commute, more personal time, and a sense of autonomy. But something essential to human collaboration is slipping away. The camaraderie. Apprenticeship with experienced mentors. Eye contact, body language, and tone of voice carry nuances no screen can translate—along with the water-bottle moments and informal conversations that build culture, connection, and community. Like many digital initiatives, WFH is becoming so transactional and commoditized that we’re losing the relational dimension of working together. In my book, Irreplaceable, I argue that great places deliver a payoff—physical, social, or emotional—that exceeds the effort it takes to show up. And that’s the challenge facing today’s offices and downtowns: for many workers, the effort outweighs the reward. Offices won’t be saved by mandates. They’ll be saved by increasing the return on involvement. If the daily commute costs 90 minutes, $15 in gas, and two cortisol spikes, the office has to offer more than a cubicle space next to coworkers. This weekend The Wall Street Journal explored what we lose with remote work—slower learning, weaker trust, reduced innovation. But the path forward isn’t nostalgia or enforcement. It’s a better value exchange. Here’s where organizations and cities should focus: 1. Shift from production to convening. Convening is social at its core—shared rituals, alignment, and connection—not a cubicle farm of desks. 2. Rebuild apprenticeship environments. People don’t learn leadership from a Zoom square. They learn by watching real colleagues solve real problems in real time. 3. Treat hybrid as choreography—not chaos. Random schedules don’t build culture. Solving problems as a team does. 4. Multiply the payoff of the commute. Workers aren’t saying, “I don’t want to go in.” They’re saying, “The value isn’t worth the cost.” That’s a design problem. 5. Rekindle downtown’s gravitational pull. Cities are relationship pools where young creatives meet collaborators, friends, and potential partners. The vibrancy of street life, food, culture, shopping, and public spaces creates the collisions that connect them. The future of the office isn’t efficiency; it’s amplifying the social capital that only in-person collaboration can create. #FutureOfWork #WorkplaceCulture #HybridWork #UrbanDesign #BehavioralDesign #Leadership #DesignThinking #PlaceMaking #ReturnOnInvolvement #DowntownRevival #Irreplaceable

We glamourised burnout and called it ambition. Now we're paying the price. Somewhere along the way, we accepted that toxic patterns were just "how work works." But these aren't normal workplace challenges. They're warning signs that too many people ignore. 17 red flags at work that no one talks about: 1. Important decisions get made without team input ↳ You find out major changes through office gossip 2. Your job description changes but your pay doesn't ↳ Extra duties appear without extra compensation 3. You get asked why you need specific days off ↳ Taking holiday feels like asking for a personal favour 4. Training budgets get cut first ↳ Your development gets shelved while consultants get hired 5. Feedback only comes during annual reviews ↳ You're left guessing how you're doing for 11 months straight 6. "We're like family" gets used to justify overtime ↳ Guilt trips replace proper staffing levels 7. Success stories only feature senior leaders ↳ Your hard work gets rewritten as their vision 8. Office politics determine promotions ↳ The best networker gets ahead, not the best performer 9. You're expected to respond to emails after hours ↳ Your phone buzzing at 9pm becomes the new normal 10. One-to-ones get cancelled repeatedly ↳ Your manager's calendar has no time for you 11. Your manager takes credit for your ideas ↳ Your breakthrough becomes their brilliant leadership moment 12. Mistakes get blamed on individuals, not processes ↳ Someone always becomes the fall guy when things go wrong 13. People leave meetings more confused than before ↳ Everyone nods along but nobody knows what they're supposed to do 14. Sick days require detailed explanations ↳ Calling in ill becomes an interrogation session 15. Lunch breaks get treated as optional work time ↳ Eating at your desk becomes the unspoken expectation 16. You're made to feel bad for leaving exactly on time ↳ Dirty looks when you pack up at 5pm become routine 17. Company values only exist on office posters ↳ Beautiful mission statements that nobody actually follows Having worked across different environments, I've seen how much workplace culture shapes everything. Your wellbeing matters more than any job title or paycheck. Trust yourself when something doesn't feel right. Which of these do you see most often? Let me know in the comments. ♻️ Repost to help someone recognise the warning signs  👉 Follow Lauren Murrell for more like this

Does your office layout actually help your team work together, or does it create invisible walls? I've been thinking a lot about how the physical workspace impacts how you connect and create. You spend so much time working on creating impact, but what if the very room you are in is working against you and your team? A poorly designed office can quietly disrupt effective collaboration and communication. Here are five ways your office might be getting in the way: 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬: Open-plan offices are meant to boost collaboration, but they can also be noisy and distracting. This makes it hard for people to do deep, focused work. On the other hand, too many closed-off offices can make teams feel isolated and disconnected from each other. 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬: Constant background noise isn't just annoying; it's a major barrier to clear communication. When people struggle to hear each other or have private conversations, misunderstandings can happen, and trust can break down. 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬: Not all work is the same. Sometimes you need a collaborative zone for brainstorming, and other times you need a quiet corner to concentrate. When employees can't choose a space that fits their task, frustration builds, and productivity drops. 𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬: The colours on the walls and the overall look of a space can affect our mood and energy. A dull, uninspiring environment can make you feel less motivated and less willing to engage with your colleagues. 𝐍𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: Offices that lack natural light and greenery can feel sterile and draining. Bringing elements of nature indoors, known as biophilic design, can reduce stress and help teams feel more connected and cohesive. Your surroundings matter more than you think. Creating a space where everyone can thrive isn't just a "nice-to-have"; it's essential for building a strong, inclusive, and innovative team. What has your experience been? Share one thing you'd change about your workspace to improve collaboration in the comments below! #Culture #Collaboration #OfficeDesign

What can make office spaces unfriendly from a sensory perspective? Loud offices that create sensory overload. Meeting-heavy cultures that drain focus. Unclear management expectations that create anxiety. Social norms that feel like a second language. A neurotypical person navigates these with mild annoyance, a coffee, and a complaint to a coworker at 4pm. A neurodivergent person burns through their energy reserves just getting through the day, and ends the week wondering why everything they did took twice as long as it should have. This is the tax nobody talks about. The mental bandwidth spent monitoring the room. The constant low-grade negotiation with fluorescent lighting. The micro-translations of vague feedback into actionable next steps. The performance of small talk that has nothing to do with the work, but is required to be allowed near the work. None of it shows up in performance reviews, and all of it is being paid for by the same brain that's also trying to produce the output the company is paying for. What's wild is how cheap most of the fixes are: → A quiet room. → A written agenda before the meeting. → Clear deliverables and clearer feedback loops. → Permission to opt out of the social performance without it being read as not being a team player. None of it expensive, all of it transformative for the 15 to 20 percent (known to date) of your workforce running an operating system the office wasn't designed for. Drew Michael, CBP and I spent the morning on a couch with one of our team, both of us heads down on different things, almost no conversation, deep flow for three hours. More output than the previous three days of solo work combined. Same brains, same task list, different environment. The variable is almost always the environment. 🧠 What's one workplace condition you've quietly worked around for years, that probably deserves to be fixed at the system level instead?

91% of employees say they’d return to the office more often, if it actually supported the way they work.   Only 24% say their current office setup does. That’s a (major) problem begging for a solution.   At Plumm, we’ve learned this the hard way. Like many startups, we opted for an open-plan office, you know, the open door policy... it was modern and collaborative. and it made sense at the time, cost-effective, flexible, startup-friendly...   But new research has me thinking, Am I really creating the best environment for my team to thrive?   The truth is, open-plan offices weren’t designed for deep work or innovation. They were designed for visibility, for oversight, and the illusion of productivity. The kind that looks great on paper but fails to nurture real focus and creativity.   This is where the disconnect lies: We’re investing in AI, building out elaborate L&D strategies, scaling wellness programmes... But we’re still asking people to do complex, focused, strategic work surrounded by noise, zero privacy, and constant interruptions... The headphones.. The spontaneous calendar blocks... The cafés just for a bit of quiet...   And we’re not alone.   The real cost isn’t what’s happening inside the office. It’s what’s happening to productivity and culture outside it.   When the environment isn’t conducive to focused work, people naturally start to feel disengaged, distracted, and burned out. So, it's more than a layout issue, it's culture.   So now, we’re beginning to rethink how our space works for people. This means: Quiet zones with clear boundaries Desk ownership and predictability Better access to tools for hybrid and remote workers Thoughtful environments that support neurodiversity, introversion, and genuine thinking time Because this isn’t just about floorplans.   It’s about respect. Respecting how different people work best. Respecting that productivity doesn’t look the same for everyone. Respecting that culture isn’t how many faces are visible in an open-plan, it’s how people feel when they show up.   So, if your office is still running on a one-size-fits-all model, ask yourself this..   → Am I truly creating an environment that works for everyone? Or am I just following outdated norms?   Rethink how your office functions and watch the difference it makes, not just to productivity, but to the wellbeing and satisfaction of your team. It’s time to build an office that works for everyone.

88% Indians Receive After-Hours Work Calls: The Real Cost of Overcommitment There was a time when hard work meant commitment. Today, it often means exhaustion. A recent survey revealed that 88% of Indian employees receive work calls after office hours, even on sick days and holidays. 79% quietly fear losing promotions or being tagged as unprofessional if they do not respond. What makes this conversation more serious is the generational shift it highlights. While older professionals may still connect “availability” with loyalty, the younger generation is saying something different: they value balance over burnout. 63% of Gen Z respondents said they would leave their jobs if their right to disconnect is not respected. What this really means for our workplaces - ✅ This is not about being lazy. It is about being human. Continuous connectivity creates continuous pressure. No one can think clearly or create deeply in a state of constant alertness. ✅ This is about leadership mindset. If leaders believe productivity equals presence, they will lose their best people. True leadership means trusting teams to deliver, not tracking them after hours. ✅ This is about modern business maturity. In countries like France and Germany, rest is lawfully respected. They do not compromise excellence. They strengthen it. When teams rest, they return sharper, not slower. ✅ This is about the health of our economy. When professionals burn out, businesses lose innovation. When people feel unsafe to disconnect, performance suffers quietly. The cost is invisible but very real. Today’s generation doesn’t want less work. They want meaningful work. They want workplaces that value their time, not just their output. They want leaders who understand that productivity cannot survive without peace of mind. This problem can be managed if we start designing workplaces that value clarity over chaos. Set timelines that end at office hours. Build feedback systems that do not depend on instant replies. Reward efficiency, not endurance. Boundaries will work only when they are part of the process, not left to personal choice.

I had three kids in four years. During those early chapters, I navigated a mix of roles: private equity investor, CFO, founder. I closed deals while nursing newborns, took calls on mute while multi-tasking, and found creative ways to keep showing up at work and at home. None of it was easy, but flexibility made it possible. Each maternity leave was different. Each return to work came with new trade-offs. But what stayed constant was the value of autonomy and being trusted to deliver, whether from the boardroom or my kitchen counter. That’s why I worry when I see blanket return-to-office mandates. The research is clear: these policies disproportionately impact women, especially working mothers. With US birth rates falling and labor force participation still recovering, this is a material, long-term economic issue. Don't get me wrong, I loved being in the mix and in my new role, I’ve already seen how hallway run-ins, spontaneous coffee chats, and in-person energy can spark ideas and open doors that wouldn’t exist on Zoom. There’s real power in proximity. I also know, deeply and personally, that working from home can be a lifeline. The future of work should be about performance, not presence. Impact, not optics. And yes, collaboration matters. So does inclusion. If we want more women in leadership, more diverse boards, and more innovation across sectors, we have to recognize that careers don’t move in straight lines and success doesn’t always wear a suit or commute five days a week. Let’s build workplaces that reflect the messy, beautiful reality of modern life. That means sometimes coming in and sometimes staying home. Back to the office? Or stay remote? Maybe we’re asking the wrong question.

You know it. I know it. Return to office isn't neutral. It disproportionately impacts women, especially mothers and caregivers. I was honored to share my thoughts with Taylor Telford for her latest The Washington Post piece exploring how aggressive RTO policies are pushing women's progress backwards. (Link in comments) As I shared in this piece, it is not a "choice" when the options are so limited. Women are once again finding themselves pushed out of the paid workforce. Some key takeaways from the article: 👉 After decades of gradual progress, the gender wage gap is widening again. In 2024, women earned just 80.9 cents for every dollar earned by men, dropping from 84 cents in 2022. 👉 For many women, especially those with caregiving responsibilities, rigid office policies are forcing "choices": accept demotions, take pay cuts, or leave entirely. 👉 Turnover among women at companies with strict in-office mandates is nearly THREE TIMES that of men. 👉 The lack of affordable, accessible childcare continues to widen the pay gap. 👉 Policies like RTO and limiting flexibility are stagnating women who feel forced to step off the ladder towards career growth to manage caregiving. This is exactly why at WRK/360, our mission is to help workplaces ACTUALLY be family and caregiving friendly. Not just in rhetoric, but in policy, culture, and practice. The dynamics the article highlights aren’t hypothetical; they are the exact challenges we work with our clients on daily. ✔️ We help companies design policies (e.g., hybrid, flexible schedules, core hours) that allow for collaboration without penalizing caregivers ✔️We coach leadership on equitable performance criteria so that remote or hybrid contributors are not implicitly devalued ✔️We partner with organizations to embed family-supportive programs that retain talent. HR and leadership teams: 👉 Still considering an RTO mandate? Think about what this really means for women and caregivers. 👉 Already have one in place? Run an audit on your turnover. How has this policy impacted men vs. women? Caregivers vs. non-caregivers? What talent are you losing? Together, we can protect the progress made over decades and stop pushing women and caregivers out of the paid workforce.