Still Talking about Remote, Hybrid, or Back-to-Office in 2025?

Understanding the Ongoing Debate and Its Impact on Workplace Culture

🎮Control: Who wields more—organizational policies or employee choice?

It’s almost 2025, and leaders are still grappling with whether to maintain remote or hybrid work arrangements.

The pros and cons of a remote environment are now well-established:

✅Pros: Reduced office space costs - Access to a larger talent pool - Increased employee autonomy, freedom, and control (proven motivators)

🛑Cons: Less quality in-person connection time - Perceived challenges in trust and employee accountability

When discussing the pros and cons, we remind leaders that remote work isn't necessarily a 'lifestyle' choice. The employee 'benefit' of working from home often translates to 'living at work'—a situation where the line between work and personal life can blur, leading to longer working hours and difficulty maintaining a work-life balance.

📍As a colleague told us, “Remote is not an employee benefit; it’s where I work.”

However, many leaders especially from Generation X, place a high value on daily in-person connections and community, which can be more efficient in certain aspects, providing a sense of reassurance and connection.

💻In our post-pandemic world, where Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are omnipresent, the advantages of maintaining a remote or hybrid culture are more pronounced. These technologies enable seamless communication and collaboration, making it easier for teams to work together regardless of their physical location.

Younger generations now expect flexibility in choosing their work location, and we don’t think that will change as they age. In addition, caregivers of children or other family members typically appreciate the flexibility remote work offers.

📉Mandating a return to the office risks losing employees to companies that maintain remote or hybrid policies—a trend likely to continue for years.

Some leaders worry about cultural degradation due to remote work. However, we've seen clients maintain high-performing, engaged, and healthy cultures in remote settings. We can't blame a subpar culture on remote work alone—people are people, whether on video or in person.

In our view, a back-to-office mandate is a riskier choice. It reduces profitability by increasing office costs and may decrease team motivation due to reduced autonomy and choice. However, it also offers the potential for increased in-person collaboration and a stronger sense of community. This model is less sustainable in our tech-driven world, but it may still be the right choice for some organizations.

🎯Whether you choose a remote or hybrid work model, it's crucial to set clear expectations for in-person meetings, training, or events. This level of organization and control can help balance the benefits of remote work with the value of face-to-face connections.

This is not the answer if you’re considering back-to-office policies because it will improve your organization’s culture. The answer to fostering a healthy, empowering, inclusive work culture is to hire self-motivated, highly skilled people with optimistic attitudes. Ensure you are building team synergy, monitoring high accountability, and that leaders are communicating effectively to keep everyone aligned with the mission and goals.

💡Our final tip: If financially feasible, we advocate getting your people together in the same room for quarterly strategy meetings - or 2x/a year. Your culture can thrive, and goals can be obtained - whether in person daily or not. It’s just how the world now works.