Abstract: RTO mandates ignore how places of work really get used and sometimes backfire, damaging morale and retention. Pinterest makes use of versatile hybrid work and occupancy knowledge to design purpose-driven areas, proving attendance ought to observe engagement, not power it.
Research counsel that versatile working insurance policies not solely promote wellbeing but in addition don’t negatively affect efficiency.
But, Goal, TikTok, Constancy Investments and UBS are nonetheless plowing forward with full-time in-office mandates or retracting versatile work insurance policies for particular groups.
Headlines might be deceptive, although: 89 per cent of organisations nonetheless have a hybrid work programme in place, down solely three share factors from 2024.
Pinterest’s international Office Technique Lead, Brian Huber, lately joined HubStar’s Office Visionaries podcast to debate how his crew designs places of work that don’t depend on obligatory attendance, and the harm mandates do elsewhere.
Pinterest has run on a completely versatile hybrid mannequin, Pinflex, since 2022, the place staff select whether or not to work remotely or in-office. It hasn’t slowed the corporate’s progress, with a brand new London HQ opened this June.
Right here’s why mandating workplace attendance doesn’t work, what Pinterest does as an alternative, and what HR leaders can take from it.
1. The “full-time” pre-pandemic workplace by no means really existed
“Return to workplace” implies returning to a “regular” that isn’t correct.
If this logic held, pre-pandemic workplace house utilisation charges can be near 100 per cent. However they have been between 65 and 75 per cent, in comparison with 80 per cent peak utilisation ranges immediately.
Places of work by no means had the capability to assist each worker without delay. Forcing that immediately will lead to overcrowding, workarounds like espresso badging and broken productiveness, points that fall on HR’s desk.
What Pinterest does as an alternative
“Any survey you ship concerning the largest impediment to coming into the workplace, the primary reply is at all times the commute,” says Brian Huber. “You’ll be able to’t remedy that until somebody’s keen to pay the value in effort, time, and sometimes cash. So the aim is: let’s create an workplace so once they do are available in, they’re productive, they like being there.”
Motion for HR leaders
Survey your worker base to seek out out what’s holding them again. Change the target from maximising attendance to constructing a office individuals need to be in.
“Return to workplace” implies returning to a “regular” that isn’t correct
2. The workplace’s function has modified and varies by location
CEOs typically cite “higher collaboration” to justify mandates, with out proof of what’s really been finished to facilitate it.
Collaboration with colleagues is the principle purpose 68 per cent of staff come into the workplace. That is adopted by in-person conferences at 58 per cent.
Including extra assembly rooms isn’t the repair, as a result of there’s nonetheless a lot nuance in how staff use house.
One constant sample throughout giant portfolios is that there aren’t sufficient assembly rooms and the prevailing ones are too huge.
HubStar’s 2025-2026 Hybrid Occupancy Index discovered 80 per cent of conferences occur in rooms constructed for six or fewer, and two individual rooms are often half empty.
Add in portfolio-wise variations like Pinterest’s, there’s much more nuance to unpack. An workplace that’s largely engineers and builders could have a really totally different function than a largely gross sales workplace, for instance.
A single mandate forces individuals into areas that don’t match their work.
What Pinterest does as an alternative
“We’re now designing places of work as revenue-driving areas – the use case isn’t your crew coming in to work at desks, it’s getting purchasers and prospects in, holding occasions, driving income in that house,” states Brian.
Motion for HR leaders
Use worker surveys, NPS scores and space-level utilisation knowledge to grasp what every workplace is definitely used for. Then advocate for funding primarily based on that proof.
3. Mandates are issued on assumptions, and HR has to scrub up once they fail
The most effective examples of the dearth of information to mandate failure pipeline is Bay space staff discovering out the workplace was 800 desks brief after the corporate’s 2023 mandate.
When that occurs, HR is who they’ll come to name on first. Not the CEO who issued the mandate or the company actual property crew that measured capability.
Pair that with poor visibility into who’s really coming in, why, and which areas they’re utilizing, and the result’s a mandate constructed to fail.
What Pinterest does as an alternative
“I take advantage of badge knowledge to get a clear image of who’s coming in, how typically, and what groups. After which overlay occupancy sensor knowledge on prime to get an image of how many individuals are within the house, and perceive how the house is definitely used. It’s helped drive calculations understanding precise desk necessities, assembly room necessities, and focus room necessities.”
Motion for HR leaders
Accomplice with company actual property, office and services administration groups to analyse office knowledge earlier than opposing a mandate.
HR, CRE and FM share possession of office expertise however haven’t labored collectively immediately till lately. That must be overcome so selections are made on knowledge.
One constant sample throughout giant portfolios is that there aren’t sufficient assembly rooms and the prevailing ones are too huge
4. Mandates harm morale, productiveness and retention
Greater than half (58 per cent) of organisations don’t supply staff a superb office expertise. It is a hole that mandates make extra seen.
Plus, 42 per cent of HR leaders noticed a decline in worker morale after an RTO mandate, and eight in 10 firms additionally misplaced expertise in consequence.
The info is evident: pressured attendance drags down the metrics HR is measured on, leaving HR to show that the mandate, not one thing else, triggered the harm.
The basis trigger is that management sees mandates as a cost-saving lever towards actual property spend with out weighing the associated fee that follows.
What Pinterest does as an alternative
Brian’s crew forecasts actual demand from occupancy knowledge and designs to that as an alternative of projected headcount.
“If we design areas to how individuals need to work, and assist that – figuring out they’re not at all times going to be there – you’ve gained them,” Brian says. “This helps with retention, helps individuals higher establish with the corporate, and doing it with this demand idea, you’re nonetheless in a position to decrease portfolio and sq. footage – price financial savings too, however it could actually’t simply be about the associated fee financial savings. I don’t assume any firm needs staff who don’t need to be there. Forcing them into the workplace 5 days every week into an area they don’t need to be in – do you actually assume you’re going to get a extra productive workforce that method?”
Motion for HR leaders
Price discount and engagement aren’t mutually unique. Make the case that attendance ought to be an output of engagement, not a prerequisite for it.
For extra actionable tips about getting your management crew aligned on the actual function of your workplace, and why mandates gained’t assist anybody realise that, take a look at the total podcast episode of Office Visionaries with Brian Huber.
Learn one other article by Jacqueline Towers: 5 causes office change fails, in response to neuroscience
