Return-to-office mandates are here – but will they stick?

Employees and employers at odds over return-to-office mandates must compromise to realise a new hybrid work model. 

Five years after the pandemic reshaped work cultures worldwide, the battle over remote knowledge work is heating up again. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has called for all Australian public servants to return to the office full-time, signalling the Liberal Party’s hardline stance on workplace flexibility – echoing a position taken by US President Donald Trump. With a federal election looming in May, such a mandate could backfire on the Coalition. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pushed back, reaffirming his support for knowledge workers working remotely. He said flexible work policies ease traffic congestion, benefit women, and boost regional economies. Albanese also flagged he would champion Australian workers’ right to flexibility – drawing a sharp contrast with Dutton, who suggested working mothers could enter “job-sharing arrangements” under a return-to-office regime. 

Australian companies are now also tightening the reins. As pandemic restrictions fade into memory, some of the world’s most influential employers – including Amazon and JPMorgan – are rolling back work-from-home arrangements and ordering staff back to the office. 

Yet despite the tough talk from politicians and CEOs, research suggests flexible work is here to stay. One leading Information Systems expert argues that what began as a crisis response to the pandemic has since evolved into a lasting shift in workplace norms – with hybrid work now a core expectation of many Australian knowledge workers.  

She says there are several key skills that can help employees and managers find compromise and remain both flexible and effective in remote and hybrid work models. 

 Hybrid work models are the future of work 

Technology enabled the global response to the pandemic restrictions that kept economies (and productivity) alive, with collaborative technological tools allowing many to continue their work from home. That wouldn’t have been possible a few decades ago, said Manju Ahuja, Scientia Professor in the School of Information Systems and Technology Management at UNSW Business School. 

“This technological evolution would be difficult to undo as employees have come to expect more flexibility and autonomy,” she said. 

According to Prof. Ahuja, as more companies implement return-to-office mandates and other means of luring employees back into office work, and workers resist trends liketask masking, the resultant tension will likely result in compromises on work models rather than a full return to the status quo. 

About 13% of people worked remotely before the pandemic, rising to 37% when the most severe restrictions were in place. “Now, COVID is no longer the factor it was, but that’s where the number has stayed,” she said. “I think that is going to continue, and we’re going to see a whole continuum of work models, from full-time office all the way to full-time remote.” 

Prof. Ahuja, a Fellow of the Association of Information Systems who has served as Senior Editor at top academic journals and holds a Lifelong Service Award from the Academy of Management, joined UNSW Business School in 2024 and was recently awarded the title of Scientia Professor. She predicts a broad spectrum of work arrangements will emerge, with the bulk of work happening in a hybrid style rather than all-office or all-remote. 

Companies are already implementing these changes in various ways, including having fixed in-office days or frequencies, with some offering complete flexibility. “We’re seeing this even more with Gen Z; they just do not want to go back to office. They’ve grown up with this lifestyle, and it’s what they want to stay with,” Prof. Ahuja said. “If we want to leverage their talents, we’re going to have to provide at least some remote work.” 

Hybrid and other new work models are linked to flexibility, efficiency and innovation, with little reported negative effect on productivity. If anything, hybrid and remote work have been shown to beprofitable for companies. 

What, then, is driving the dissonance between the apparent benefits of flexibility and the return-to-office-mandates? 

Why some managers want to scrap flexible work and the hybrid model 

According to Prof. Ahuja, while theupsides of flexible work arrangements may be real, it remains a challenge for some managers to let go of the illusion of control. “My sense is that it’s very hard to manage remote workers; you can’t manage what you don’t see,” she said. 

“It’s an uneasy position for managers not to know who’s working, when, whether the work’s getting done, what the processes are, if people are being good citizens, and so on. I think that’s part of the incentive for managers – they want to manage people more effectively, and being unable to monitor is a big issue.” 

If not managed well, however, remote work can also lead to feelings of isolation and contribute to mental health challenges. Research shows that a lack of in-person connection can make it harder for managers to identify when team members are struggling.  

That said, it's important to acknowledge that for some individuals, remote work can improve mental wellbeing by reducing stressors like commuting or sensory overload. The key challenge for managers is balancing flexibility with fostering team connection and wellbeing. 

“We’ve seen better wellbeing for all these categories, as well as better productivity. It’s supporting autonomy and reducing discrimination risks,” Prof. Ahuja said. “As companies are telling people to come back, these are some of the things they should think about and provide support for in their policies and strategies.” 

While some companies offer better access to promotions and pay toencourage returning to the office, managers should also consider the potential negative implications of a move away from workplace flexibility. 

For instance, RTO mandates raise potentially significant diversity and gender equity issues. “More women quit during COVID, and I think that if we’re asking people to come back, that will happen again,” Prof. Ahuja said, citing a study showing that 63% of C-suite leaders said women were quitting due to RTO mandates. 

“Not that it doesn’t happen to men – it does, of course – it just forces women to a greater extent to choose between career growth and personal responsibilities. That has already happened and will likely continue to happen as people go back.” 

Remote work has also been associated with narrowing gender pay gaps and improving career progression, particularly for women. Additionally, people with disabilities – especially those who are neurodivergent – often benefit from the increased flexibility and autonomy that remote work provides. 

Key skills needed for successful hybrid knowledge work models 

According to Prof. Ahuja, if hybrid working is to become the norm for knowledge work, then there are key skills and competencies that organisations and the people they hire should prioritise to improve outcomes for everyone.  

First among these is attention management. “When you’re at home, there are interruptions; that’s justhuman nature,” she said. “It’s very difficult to manage focus, and time management is a big part.” 

Cognitive skills are also valuable in a hybrid working environment. “It’s much harder to analyse and solve complex problems in a hybrid setup, mainly because the work conditions are unclear,” Prof. Ahuja said. “Sometimes people aren’t reachable; it’s very different from being together in person. Cognitive skills of communication, mental flexibility, planning, ways of working and critical thinkingwill all be extremely important.” 

Other key competencies include digital skills enabling employees to deal with technology and the problems they’ll encounter and the “self-management that goes hand-in-hand with time management – being aware of where your day is going and what your goals are”, she said. 

Prof. Ahuja, who has also researched couples' dynamics in work-from-home settings, including in her paperAdvancing research on women’s equality in virtual work, noted that there could be issues with office space when both partners are working from home, again making self-management skills essential for managing home and work dynamics. 

“Finally, it’s developing relationships at work: interpersonal skills must be more mindful and deliberate, including getting to know new people and getting new people socialised,” she said. “That’s a skill we have to work on, but companies must also provide some support for that and be mindful that when this kind of teamwork happens, teams are effective.” 

Building such teamwork effectiveness is a challenge in virtual environments, which lack vital face-to-face time, something Prof. Ahuja looked at in a 2014 research paper, The role of communication and trust in global virtual teams: A social network perspective. “It’s not that you can’t do team meetings without communication technologies, but it’s a lot harder, and we have shown that it’s harder to build trust, to arrive at consensus, to solve problems, to be creative,” she said. 

How companies can foster employee retention and greater job satisfaction among knowledge workers 

Prof. Ahuja said that organisations can invest in helping people manage their time and focus to foster innovation and creativity among geographically dispersed teams. That includes knowing how many virtual teams people can contribute to without affecting their creativity or focus. 

Providing sufficient training and support will be necessary. “If people are struggling with technology, structures, paperwork, etc, they’ll be less creative and less innovative,” she said. She also pointed to the growing prevalence of work-life balance policies, like the right-to-disconnect policy, and other regulations addressing this tension. 

In a 2021 book,Navigating Work and Life Boundaries, Prof. Ahuja and co-authors found constant connectedness causes feelings of helplessness in employees. “If we don’t disconnect, we can never be creative, and we get bogged down by constant connectivity, which is very stressful on the mind. It takes away the cognitive resources you need to be innovative and creative.” 

Ensuring the availability of collaborative technologies is also essential for employee engagement, as are continuous reskilling and internal talent management. Organisations should also focus strategically on innovation instead of just ‘how efficient’ someone is. 

“Work is more than just getting things done; it’s more than just tasks. It’s also about friendships, community, and a sense of belonging and identity,” she said. “If we want people to come back, that’s what will bring them back.