I used to work at a company that underwent a Return to Office (RTO) transition.

For context, I hadn’t worked in a true office setting since long before the pandemic, and I was unprepared for how much I would come to despise being back in the office.

The phsycal presence for me wasn’t just a shift in environment - it felt like a regressive step into a productivity-sapping nightmare.

I conclude that the real issue is not the RTO itself, but the hybrid office setup.

For the Sake of "Collaboration"

After the announcement, I had a discussion about RTO with my manager. They mentioned something along the lines of, "You know, this RTO is so productive for collaboration. I like it."

I am a manager who is lucky to have engineers as direct reports, while they are a managers manager. And being a manager myself, I could naturally see through their bullshit - I knew they weren't happy with RTO either. We both had the same perception of this initiative, but they are in a position where they have to rationalize, why each fad coming straight from the top is actually good.

They then have proceed to list some "pros" of the in-office work, among them:

• A smalltalk by a water cooler is worth a thousand Slack messages
• The office environment promotes focus and minimizes distractions
• And the main point - it is good for collaboration: "the guys sitting next to each other accomplish in one day as much as their remote peers take a week to do"

Okay.

If you want "by-the-cooler smalltalk" - me and my counterpart are capable of scheduling a pair programming session.

If you want "promoted focus," how about encouraging a culture where people don’t talk loudly on Zoom calls at their desks instead of in meeting rooms? Or maybe I’m focused when I have to squeeze in a bathroom break during a 5-minute slot between meetings? Well, yes, I am - focused on doing exactly that!

And If you want me to hot-desk and to "collaborate" with a colleague du jour from a distant department whose name I don't even know, and whom I might not even see again for months - nah, I call bullshit.

All these supposed pros, and not a single mention of a con? Well, hear me: nothing beats the comfort of working from home. You could offer me my own kitchen, my own bathroom, my own napping area, and maybe then - just maybe - I might consider your RTO. A happy employee is a productive employee, or so the company’s training materials say.

But this article isn’t strictly about RTO. It’s about the setup that a partial RTO creates, and why it’s the worst possible outcome.

A Day in Life of a Hybrid Team

One of the most important skills for a software engineer is the ability to communicate clearly. This becomes even more evident when a transition to a hybrid setup occurs.

In this context, there are group chats and private messages. While people can still send private messages on Slack, bypassing the group chat, both forms of communication leave a digital footprint of the software's evolution, a chain of custody that describes the development cycle, and a paper trail of requirement changes. These records are often non-existent in an in-office setting.

Such a communication style might be acceptable even, if everyone is consistently present in the office - you trade the culture of documentation for flexibility and speed.

Not so in a hybrid setup! Implicit communication channels start to form, and people sitting next to each other oh so often forget to share information that may (will!) benefit a wider audience. Then, as a manager - or even as someone who simply cares - you try to address the issue by encouraging those involved to also post updates in writing. This introduces unnecessary friction and will inevitably lead to the group questioning your skills, your merit, and even accusing you of micromanagement.

Information is now shared with a select in-office few. As obvious as it is, not only in-office people start getting information much faster than the others - those outside the office receive information more slowly, not just relative to their in-office counterparts, but also compared to the prior status quo!

Engagement drops, and people who were once active may suddenly lose their momentum. Take a Zoom call, for instance. It starts 8 minutes late because all the meeting rooms are booked. Add to this the difference in sound levels, which amplifies the artificially imposed power imbalance - when those the room talks, those on the other side of the screen are effectively silenced. When someone working from home speaks, the room still holds its monopoly to inadvertently mute the virtual participants.

Cliques start to form, and existing ones are reinforced. In-office colleagues subconsciously look down on those who only come in part-time, further disengaging them. Why do they only come in two days a week when I’m here all five? Why didn’t they attend the team event?

As engagement drops, so does team morale. Some people definitely prefer working in the office. Some absolutely prefer home-office over office-office. Instituting a full RTO is a second worst. A partial, hybrid RTO is the worst, alienating both groups equally. Suddenly, there aren’t enough desks on mandatory office days, while on other days the office is nearly empty. All home-office routines are disrupted. The team’s cohesion and productivity suffer as everyone struggles to adapt to an inconsistent and fragmented work environment. No one feels fully supported or satisfied.

Conclusion

In the end, it is not as dark as I may have painted it. In its essence, an RTO is a soft layoff - yet another shenanigan to encourage people to leave "voluntarily". Needless to say, a lot of people left immediatelly after the policy was announced. Those who remain are not better or worse engineers - they are either more compliant or more emotionally invested in the company - whether due to their personal character or the expectation of greater rewards. And hey, the point for a business to exist is to make money for its shareholders, right?

Now, if someone superior tries to defend RTO to you - share this article with them. But only if you are brave enough to not fear a retaliation, or if you're fully vested.