MT Magazine March/April 2025

FEATURE STORY

MARCH/APRIL 2025

15

Return to Office: How Come?

On e consequence of the COVID pandemic in the United States was the explosive growth in the number of people who abandoned their offices and worked from home.* Now, an increasing number of companies have decided that since they have the space, desks, equipment, and other amenities, it is back to the office. Anthony Abbatiello, workforce transformation practice leader, PwC U.S., says, “I believe in physical location.” He acknowledges, “I’m an extrovert. I enjoy bouncing ideas off colleagues, intellectual debate. I like the collaboration. For me, that works.” But he adds an important caveat: “That doesn’t mean that’s a strategy.” While some companies simply mandate it, Abbatiello believes there must be a strategic purpose behind returning to the office. “Mandates don’t work,” he says. “Just saying ‘get back to the office’ doesn’t work because some people are going to spend more time trying to circumvent the process rather than actually working.” As a result, productivity can be lost. “If there’s a benefit through collaboration or idea exchanges, and we want to use physical location as a way to do that, that makes sense. Make it transparent to the employees so they understand what it is going to bring the company.”

Abbatiello says that it isn’t usual for him to walk though client organizations and see “people with headphones on, sitting in front of a screen, not talking to peers or asking questions.” What’s more, he’s found that companies housed in large buildings tend to have Zoom calls rather than having workers walk to another floor to meet with people. “Provide meaning and purpose for being back in the office beyond free food on Wednesdays,” he says. __________________________________________________ * The PwC “2024 Workforce Radar Report” found that workers who couldn’t work from home – “shift workers on the plant floor, the people climbing utility poles, flying planes or ringing up merchandise” – are no different than office workers when it comes to flexibility. While those able to work from home were able to achieve greater flexibility, that wasn’t necessarily the case for those whose jobs don’t lend themselves to that situation. Still, PwC has some suggestions that companies can offer on-site workers: • Flexible scheduling and start times • Shift swapping • Varied shift durations PwC found that only 48% of people who work on-site think their work schedules are flexible enough to meet their personal needs. In contrast, 67% of office workers say they have that flexibility.