With the return to office (RTO) becoming more prevalent, organizations face the challenge of ensuring their physical workspaces and internal communication strategies are equipped to support employees effectively.
The focus is on creating an environment that promotes engagement, alignment with organizational goals, and effective collaboration, especially as teams transition back from remote or hybrid setups.
Preparing adequately for this shift is essential to fostering a smooth and productive reintegration for employees and a reinvigorated company culture. company culture.
To help HR and Corporate Communications teams navigate this transition, our solution offers a centralized platform with advanced content management and dynamic targeting capabilities.
With these tools, organizations can efficiently manage and distribute internal communications across all locations, ensuring that the right message reaches the right audience at the right time.
The RTO Reset No One Prepared For
“I believe that RTO three days a week gave people the flexibility they needed. Switching to RTO five days a week took away some of their autonomy. By Friday, my team is so exhausted that they’re not working to their full capacity. They’ve been commuting all week.”
The return-to-office (RTO) movement is gaining momentum across large organizations, often outpacing operational readiness. Today, about 60–70% of companies have formal RTO policies requiring employees to spend at least part of their week in the office. This surge in mandates is happening faster than many companies can adapt, leaving employees, sometimes quite literally, out in the cold.
Major employers such as Amazon, AT&T, and Instagram are enforcing RTO requirements, despite lacking enough desks or seats to accommodate renewed demand. After years of downsizing or reconfiguring spaces during COVID-19, many offices are not set up for full occupancy. The result: operational gaps, employee frustration, and missed opportunities to reimagine the workplace for a new reality.
Attendance Is Up. But Experience and Engagement Lag
Office attendance is rising, but the experience hasn’t kept pace. U.S. office visits are up about 10.7% year over year, yet still trail pre-pandemic levels by roughly 22%. More people are coming in but that alone isn’t improving how work gets done.
What employees are running into instead:
- Presence without purpose: Employees come in, then spend the day on video calls, recreating remote work on-site.
- Space without certainty: Higher people-to-desk ratios lead to daily desk and meeting room shortages, especially on peak days.
- Time lost to friction: Employees waste time searching for space instead of starting work.
- Static tools in a dynamic office: Emails, posted signs, and printed floor maps can’t keep up with changing demand.
Hybrid work removed predictability, but most workplaces haven’t replaced it with real-time clarity. Employees need to know ‘right now’ where to sit, where to meet, and how to navigate the office without friction. Without that visibility, offices may feel busier, but they aren’t more engaging or effective.
This disconnect between attendance and experience is where modern workplace experience platforms become essential.
Booking Systems: The New RTO Infrastructure
In the new office landscape, employees need more than an invitation; they need reliable tools. Desk and meeting room booking systems inject much-needed fairness and predictability into daily routines. These platforms allow employees to reserve space with confidence, reducing competition and supporting hybrid schedules.
Not only do booking systems streamline access, but the data they capture provides real-time insights into how space is actually used—helping organizations adapt policy, optimize office design, determine real estate ROI, and measure the real impact of their RTO programs. Without this structure, workspace access feels arbitrary, undermining trust and engagement.
Meeting Room Signage: Operational Stability
Meeting rooms are the epicenter of friction in many RTO offices. As booking volumes rise, so does the potential for confusion and schedule clashes. Real-time digital signage outside meeting rooms gives employees instant clarity on room status—reducing interruptions, walk-ins, and wasted time.
This additional transparency is essential as office density grows. Well-placed, up-to-date signage transforms meeting room chaos into a smoothly functioning system.
Meeting Room Signage: An Engagement Opportunity
Engagement doesn’t just happen in meetings—it thrives in the moments between them. According to Work Design Magazine, clarity, wayfinding, and the invitation to experiment are essential for comfort and participation in hybrid offices.
Meeting room displays are evolving beyond simply showing room bookings. Positioned both inside and outside, these screens can serve as shared communication touchpoints—delivering key information exactly when and where employees need it. Room screens become:
- Communication Hubs: Delivering company updates, weather, or news.
- Informative Dashboards: Displaying KPIs, performance data, or safety alerts.
- Culture Touchpoints: Reinforcing culture and engagement before and after meetings.
Screens reduce cognitive burden by providing clear, visible, and timely information. This not only minimizes frustration but also supports a culture of transparency and participation.
RTO Is Resetting Employee Expectations
Today’s employees expect an office experience that delivers value beyond what they can find at home. A recent Guardian poll revealed that 38% of professionals experienced negative well-being impacts related to the pressure of RTO mandates.
As organizations push for physical presence, ongoing challenges erode goodwill—fast. Employees are attuned to the quality of their office experience. If it’s easier or more comfortable to work from home, cumbersome in-office routines can quickly lead to disengagement. Strategic planning, processes, and tools are more important than ever to truly support wellbeing and productivity.
One critical misstep: treating RTO as a policy rollout, rather than a holistic systems change. HR Executive notes a shift in leading organizations—from simply measuring attendance to crafting intentional, experience-led workplace designs.
The lasting lesson? Measuring “butts in seats” does little for engagement or performance. Engagement is the true north. Companies like Cisco are rethinking the office as a space for experience—not just presence, recognizing that a positive workplace experience is crucial as employee wellbeing and satisfaction become priority metrics.
Checklist for a Strategic Return-to-Office Program
When planning and executing a return-to-office (RTO) program, a strategic, employee-focused approach is essential for success. Use this checklist to guide your rollout:
1. Define Your Strategy and Objectives
- Set clear business objectives for the RTO program. Why are you bringing employees back? Set clear business objectives for the RTO program. Why are you bringing employees back?
- Align RTO goals with broader company strategies like enhancing collaboration, innovation, or engagement
- Identify key success metrics, such as engagement scores, project velocity, or team productivity
2. Gather Employee Feedback and Develop a Flexible Plan
- Distribute surveys to understand employee concerns, preferences, and challenges regarding RTO
- Host focus groups with diverse teams to gather qualitative insights
- Use the feedback to build flexible policies that accommodate hybrid schedules and address the needs of different roles and geographies
3. Create a Comprehensive Communication Plan
- Announce the RTO plan with clear, realistic timelines and expectations
- Clearly articulate the “why” behind RTO, linking it back to company goals and employee benefits
- Leverage multiple channels (email, all-hands meetings, intranet articles, digital signage, employee app) to ensure the message reaches everyone
4. Prepare the Physical and Digital Workplace
- Reassess office layouts to prioritize collaboration, connection, and comfort, making the office a destination
- Ensure all health and safety measures are clearly communicated and in place
- Train managers on leading hybrid teams effectively and provide resources to help all employees navigate the new model
5. Measure, Adapt, and Iterate
- Track key metrics like office attendance, employee engagement, and productivity post-rollout
- Maintain open feedback channels to continuously gather input and address unforeseen challenges
- Be prepared to adapt your RTO policies based on data and feedback, keeping employees involved in shaping the future of your workplace
By following this checklist, teams can balance organizational goals with employee needs, creating an RTO program that fosters engagement, collaboration, and a positive workplace culture.
Design the Office to Support RTO
RTO is likely here to stay, but its future will be shaped by a spectrum of hybrid models, rather than a rigid mandate. The core challenge isn’t employee resistance, it’s the friction that undercuts productivity and wellbeing.
Booking systems and dynamic signage do more than enforce RTO; they make it practical and efficient. They help employees find the right space, at the right time, and connect with the organization in ways remote work can’t replicate. When the office operates smoothy, it fosters intention and connection, instead of resentment.
The winning approach? Striking the right balance between structured support and engaging experiences. That’s how organizations will build offices employees actually want to return to and create enduring success in the new era of work.
Looking to create a workplace where employees feel productive, empowered, and connected? Talk to a workplace consultant this week.
