Unraveling the complexities of the return-to-office double standard, we delve into the disparities and contradictions that have emerged in the post-pandemic workplace. A critical exploration of the evolving dynamics of professional environments awaits.
Many managers are mandating their employees back to in-person work
Except they’re not always following the same rules
- Increasingly, workers themselves are also reporting bosses are eschewing their own rules, creating a double standard for the return to office
- And it’s not sitting well with the employees back at their desks
The impact of an unfair rule
If a people manager or executive isn’t coming in while they’re asking their staff to, the results are unlikely to benefit the team
- Although managers may be trying to care for themselves by staying behind, if junior staff don’t know the reasons why their bosses are not coming in, resentment can build
What are the options for those back in the office while their managers are not?
Cooper sees four possibilities: speak to the boss about the disparity (in a non-aggressive way), bring the issue up with HR, put up with the situation or leave
Emotional fallout
Trust is likely the first casualty in the employee-manager dynamic.
- This can be particularly destabilizing for employees during times of crisis, especially when many have valid fears and concerns around returning to work in person, yet feel ignored or deprioritized.
Sneha, for one, is opting to stay
At the moment, she doesn’t plan to leave her job, but she hopes her bosses will change their approach
‘No one’s on the same page’.
Companies are struggling to standardize plans, and even when businesses define and attempt to implement them, the ever-shifting situation has made consistency impossible
- There is no consensus on how often workers should return to the office
- This has set the stage for this damaging double standard between managers and reports to play out
As organizations firm up their remote policies, it will also give some managers less room to interpret rules to their own advantage
Ultimately, Vroman says it is unlikely to be individual managers who have the final say on who comes in and who does not.
- It’s a macro-organisational issue
