Seriously, RTO Czars?

This month Maryanne and her colleagues are talking about the topic that just won’t quit – Return to the Office.

“You really called him the Corporate Nazi?” laughed David Morgan.

“We did,” said Jason Edison. “He used to roam the halls first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening accounting for who came in early and who left late. Maryanne, you remember ole Scott from our days at the consulting firm, don’t you?” 

“I certainly do, Jason,” I replied. “We used to wonder if his official title was Hall Monitor.”

The return-to-office debate keeps rearing its ugly head, and my colleagues and I can’t understand why. Ellen Cooper was sharing an article she’d recently read about a proposed, emerging role—RTO officers to facilitate the transition to full-time, in-person work.

“What does it say about the culture of an organization that has to have someone like an RTO Czar oversee the day-to-day office experience? That just seems contrary to the argument RTO advocates make that it fosters a stronger work culture and collaboration.” Ellen said. “In a retail environment like mine, or a service business like Maryanne’s of course front-line workers have to be on the premises. But David, what about your technology firm?”

“We just don’t understand all the fuss,” he said. “We trust our employees to get the work done wherever they are and are not about to treat them like children. Remember that snow storm last winter when so much of Chicagoland shut down. Most of our employees plowed right through their work, no pun intended, from the comfort of their own homes. Just like they did during the pandemic.”

“Some of the research I’ve seen shows that flexible—remote or hybrid—workplaces experience higher workforce growth,” added Jason. “And some innovative ways of working are evolving as well. For example, one firm reduced its office footprint and used the savings to bring employees together in other ways—shared documents, messaging systems and video to capture meetings and comments. They collaborate even though they may work in different places across different time zones.”

“There are also reports of increased productivity for firms who allow people to work remotely, at least part of the time,” said David. “What often gets ignored is that knowledge workers, like the ones my technology firm employs, need to balance quiet time to focus along with time to collaborate in order to provide the best results.”

“Ellen, you mentioned a service business like Kings restaurant chain. Since the pandemic, we have allowed our regional and headquarters office staff flexibility about where they work with some interesting results. In our Nashville region, the office staff have taken to working out of some of our restaurants from time to time. They park themselves at a quiet table for a few hours as if they were working from a coffee shop. The restaurant staff has taken notice of this and like having access to them—especially our HR team members. The practice is starting to spread.”

“That’s interesting, Maryanne. It sounds like management by moving around.” said Ellen. “I’m sure that portability and flexibility has had a positive effect on the culture—for both the restaurant staff and the office staff.”

“Yes it has, and like so many innovative ideas, I love that it was organic and came from the team members and not the leadership. And the added benefits for the office staff is that they get to see the operation in action, not to mention their free lunch.”

“Well,” said Jason looking at his watch, “we’re not going to end this debate anytime soon, but I do need to be heading out. Till next time…”