Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Working Conversations podcast, where we talk all things leadership, business, communication, and trends in organizational life. I'm your host, Dr. Janel Anderson.

Now, return to office mandates are sweeping across corporate America. It's all over the headlines. Giants like Amazon and Dell have recently laid down very strict return to office policies, signaling that the remote work privileges that many have come to appreciate may be slipping from our grasp.

For some employees, returning to the office is a welcome reprieve from the distractions of home. But for others, it's an unexpected challenge that threatens hard won routines, family, logistics, or even newly chosen locations far, far from headquarters.

Today we'll explore how user experience engineering can inform return to Office success. And we'll dig into why a pull approach where employees feel drawn back into the office and value being together may be the only sustainable path forward.

First, I'm sure you have seen the headlines. Major companies are requiring employees to come back to the office either now or in early 2025. And we're talking not just once in a while. These return to office mandates are increasingly five days a week. And what they're also saying is if you don't want to come back five days a week, well, some other company just might be a better fit for you. In fact, the head of Amazon's web services AWS recently said, “If you don't want to work in this environment, that's okay. There are other companies around,” said Matt Garman, head of again Amazon Web Services division.

He added, “You know, I don't mean that in a bad way.” He was quoted in Fortune magazine as having said this. He said, following the idea that he wants staff to, “be in an environment where we're working together and where they want to work together”.

Now at Amazon, one of the other things that they're known for is having a, a culture where it's okay to disagree and disagreement and they refer to it as disagree and commit. So you can disagree out loud with a policy or a decision, but then you have to commit to whatever that policy or decision is, but you get the freedom of self expression to make that disagreement and make it very publicly. But of course then the other side of that coin is that you're going to get on board with the decision, but you got a chance to voice your concern or voice your disagreement.

And one of the things that head of AWS Matt Garman said is that it is so much harder to disagree in an environment that's computer mediated. It's so much harder to disagree in a team's call. So they think that there's more openness of communication when everyone is together. So some of the other reasons that companies are giving for this return to office is that innovation isn't moving fast enough, that being together will strengthen culture and the effectiveness of teams, and that more in person connection will drive market leadership in whatever category they happen to be in.

So those are some of the reasons that organizations are citing wanting their people to come back in the office. It's not just arbitrary and capricious or to use that commercial real estate they're already paying for. They do have some solid business reasons. Now, it's still an uphill hill battle for a lot of employees who have really grown accustomed to the flexible work arrangement of working from home or only needing to come into the office periodically, whether that's a couple times a year, a couple times a month, or a couple times a week.

Now what I want to do today in this podcast is think about taking a user experience approach and that is really diving into the demographics and psychographics of who your users are, in this case employees, your employees are, and thinking about it from their perspective.

So that's where we're going to head with this. And then we'll, we'll conclude with some ideas about really creating that pull environment that makes people want to come into the office, where they see value in coming into the office, whether that's in collaboration, whether that's in the amenities that the office has, any number of things. But it really does need to be a pull rather than a push for it to work successfully. Okay, so again, as we think about user experience engineering, I want to turn you on to the idea of archetypes.

So archetypes are the amalgamation of characteristics of different people. It's not an exact person, but it's a character that could be that or that is representative of a broader user base. So in a world where the push to return to office is becoming more and more prominent, as we were just discussing, companies have an opportunity to really adopt a user centered approach in getting people back to the office. Now, if you know anything about my backstory, you know that I was a director of user experience Engineering at a very large company earlier in my career.

Now, just as I did when I led that team working to help business units create products that truly resonated with their users, employers that dive deeply into to the psychographics and demographics of the diverse user types. In other words, their employees can benefit from similarly deep insights into their employees lived experiences and that's what we were looking for when I was leading that user experience engineering team, is we were looking for the lived experiences of the people who were using the product and then matching those lived experiences with how they stepped through using the product and different use cases.

But we really needed to understand who that person was and what they cared about first before we could have a deep and meaningful understanding of how they were using the product and what would make that product experience better. So by understanding what drives different employees preferences for remote or in office work, companies can design policies that not only align with corporate goals, but also respect the really diverse lives and work styles of their workforce.

So just as successful products are built around user needs and preferences, effective return to Office strategies should be informed by the specific motivations and the specific challenges of different employee types. Now, employers need to approach Return to Office with that same meticulous design thinking that they do. And in fact, many of these companies that we're talking about here, Dell, Amazon, so forth, they are meticulous about designing products for their customers. They need to turn those same design skills on their return to Office efforts.

That same design thinking that they would use in refining a product for specific user Personas. They need to use that exact same thinking to think about and strategize for how to, if and how to have people come back into the Office.

Now, a 2023 study from Microsoft's Work Trend Index highlights that employees today are divided about returning to the office, with 76% reporting that they would return if they saw value in it and 35% actually saying that they see clear value articulated by the company. Now, this gap underscores that a one size fits all return to Office policy totally misses the mark, often failing to consider employees unique motivations or constraints, which can result in decreased engagement and ultimately higher turnover or at, you know, at worst case, I guess at best case we're, and we're seeing a lot of this now is a lack of compliance in whatever the return to office mandate is.

But again, a lot of these companies that are having lack of compliance are going to be cracking down, especially as we enter 2025. Now, by profiling different types of employees, again, in that user experience engineering mindset, companies can build a much more inclusive and responsive return to office model, demonstrating to their people that individual needs are indeed valued and understood. Because I think that's one of the pieces that's missing. Some of the people who fall into some of these archetypes that I'm, that, that I've created just don't think that their employer really gets them and understands their desire to work from home.

So let's take a closer look at four representative employee archetypes. And these are just ones I made up based on talking to folks like you, people who listen to the podcast and when I am out in the field giving presentations to organizations. And in fact that's one of the ways that they're getting people to come back into the office more regularly is they're holding events on site to get people to come back into the office. And especially with an organization that's maybe had me one or two other times to do an event, whether that's an online event or an in person event, when I am a known entity to their employees, I am one of their secret weapons to get people back into the office. I'm doing one of those a little bit later this week. I did one last week. The one later this week is going to be a really fun one because this place has completely redesigned their workspace to be very like upscale, co working, kind of cool, fun, funky, modern. And they don't have a mandate for people to come back, but they are really employing this idea of pull.

They're trying to pull people back into the office to get them to organically collaborate in face to face environment a bit more than they have been because this organization has by and large for the last four years been very, very work from home centric. Okay, so anyway, we're going to look at these four archetypes again. They have come from my conversations with people when I'm out in the giving speeches, giving keynotes, and when I am talking to folks who listen to the podcast and talking to prospective clients who might be hiring me for things.

As I dig into, well, tell me about your employees or I might even be saying to a particular person, tell me about your work from home experience or your desire to return to the office. And then again, an archetype here, a Persona, is an amalgamation of a little bit of what this person said, a little bit of what this person said and kind of grouping them into like sets of characteristics. So you, you create these fictional but, but based on real people. Okay, so if you're in charge of a return to office implementation, I suggest that you start with these four because I think they're pretty universal and then do some additional research in your organization to learn more about what the other archetypes are that are really present and dominant and how they might be thinking about return to office and then really rolling out your strategy in a way that caters to them. Okay.

Number one is the working mom seeking focus and structure. Okay, so imagine Sarah, a full time professional and mother, juggling both her job and a mountain of household responsibilities. Her days often begin with getting kids ready for school and off to the bus stop, managing a forgotten lunchbox, fielding midday calls from her kids about forgotten homework or sports gear. And for Sarah, the office isn't just a place to work. It has become a sanctuary for deep focus away from the ongoing household demands that stretch her in all directions. So with the chance to fully immerse herself in her projects, she feels more effective and more fulfilled. The office for her is where she can do her best work uninterrupted. And she doesn't mind the commute because of that.

Now, she still might have to take a call or a text from one of her children, but it's much easier for her to say, well, I'm at the office, especially if the office is nowhere near the school, then she is off the hook for doing those things and the children just need to learn. Or maybe if there's a different parent home or somebody else in their world who can, you know, retrieve the forgotten item from the home and deliver it to the school.

But Sarah, our busy working mom, is off the hook and she loves going to the office. Now, research from Catalyst finds that working mothers often struggle with balancing household responsibilities and professional work, making this concrete time and this concentrated time at work at the office highly, highly valuable. So when given the opportunity to work uninterrupted, employees like Sarah report higher job satisfaction and productivity. Harvard Business Review also highlights that dedicated office time can lead to higher quality output for individuals who are managing high household demands. So the people where the, you know, family and household is at odds with concentrating on work, a chance to go back to the office is again, just like we described for Sarah, a sanctuary. It gives an opportunity to really focus on work.

All right, now let's move on to Persona number two. This is the commuting collaborator. So meet James, a social and collaborative employee who thrives on face to face interactions and casual conversations and those brainstorming sessions that happen best when in person. James loves the camaraderie and the energy of being in the office. But he finds his lengthy commute a total downer of an obstacle, especially when it cuts into his workout time. His go to stress reliever. James likes a little me time in the morning. He likes to, in fact, this is exactly how he described it to me.

He called it his me time. And when I Asked him what he does in his me time, he said he usually works out, reads some newspaper, you know, scans the headlines. But mostly it's his workout. And he does have a 45 minute commute, so he feels like he's not going to get up 45 minutes earlier. On days he's coming into the office, he's just going to skip his workout instead. So there are days when he shows up at work only to spend hours on back to back teams calls. Any questions then why he's even there in person now? For James, the value of being in the office is totally conditional. It's worth it only when he can actively collaborate and connect with his colleagues in a meaningful way.

If he is locked behind his computer screen on his laptop all day long, he figures he might as well be at home, get his workout in the morning and skip the commute. Now commuting does have an specific impact on our well being. The American Journal of Preventative Medicine reports that long commutes significantly impact employee well being, often at the expense of, as in James's case, exercise. Also social time and family interactions. Furthermore, a 2022 Gallup survey found that workers with lengthy commutes have a 46% higher stress rate every day. And these findings underscore that while in person work often provides meaningful opportunities for collaboration, commuting can diminish overall life satisfaction, which is then in turn going to affect employees work engagement and productivity. So two sides to that coin. And if we can get people into the office and having those meaningful interactions, then the commute is worth it. If they're stuck behind their computer screen all day, what's the point? They'd rather skip the commute.

All right, let's move on to Persona number three. The neurodivergent professionals struggling with logistics. So here we have Alex, a neurodivergent employee who finds getting to the office an uphill battle every time he has to do it. So between gathering everything that they need for the day, the badge, the laptop, all the power cords, and then of course, the sensory and mental overload of a bustling office environment, Alex feels off kilter before they've even settled in. And they're probably settling in, not to necessarily their own dedicated workspace, they may be settling into a hoteling style space, which is not necessarily going to feel very settled in for someone like Alex. So for Alex, working from home offers a buffer against all of the sensory and organizational overload and challenge that they face outside of their home. And that allows them to focus on the tasks at hand, focus on their work without all those stressors and without commuting and without all the in office social pressure.

So the push to return to the office feels not only inconvenient, but actively counterproductive to their workflow and their well being. Now, we do need to consider neurodivergent employees because increasingly people are owning their own neurodivergences and asking for accommodations for them. So neurodivergent employees, including those with ADHD or on the autism spectrum who have autism spectrum disorder, they often thrive with very predictable routines and controlled environments. Studies from the Job Accommodation Network or Jan show that remote work can benefit neurodivergent employees by reducing sensory overload and minimizing stressors like last minute disruptions, challenging commutes, or people just popping by their office unannounced.

Now, for these employees, remote work is often more than a preference. It is a means to support an effective and sustained productive environment for them. So we really do need to think about our neurodivergent employees and think about the if we are going to ask them to come into the office, how can we do that in a way that is going to allow for some routine, allow for some of that predictable experience that helps them thrive and helps them do their best work? And again, that's probably not going to mean hoteling, that's probably going to mean dedicated workspace that's just theirs, where they have some clear boundaries around their space. And I did an episode, oh gosh, way back that, where we talked about the physical boundaries of your workspace.

So we'll link that one up in the show notes because I think that in particular really does speak to. And I didn't talk about neurodivergent employees in that episode, but I think that topic of creating those boundaries really does speak to the needs of a neurodivergent employee.

All right, and number four of the four that I created, the relocated employee who embraced remote work fully. So let's consider Mia, who during the pandemic took her company's permanent remote work policy to heart and relocated three states away to her dream home near her extended family. Mia loves her job, she loves the company that she works for, and she loves the flexibility that allows her to live in an ideal location, far from headquarters, but very well connected and close to aging parents and extended family. That just really feeds her soul. Mia loves her job. She loves the flexibility to live in that ideal location.

And now with her work tethered to her life's rhythm, she feels deeply unsettled by being asked to return to the office on a permanent basis. So options like attending a satellite office, which is an option that she's been given, is not ideal for her because she doesn't know anyone in the satellite office, and moving back three states over feels like a massive disruption to her life, compromising her freedom and compromising the promise that her employer issued a few years back. Now, in 2021, a McKinsey survey found that 39% of employees who moved during the pandemic did so with the assumption that remote work would be permanent, because, after all, that's what their employer said.

These employees frequently report higher satisfaction due to the increased quality of life that they now have because of their new location, just like Mia. For organizations that are pushing a return to office without flexibility for such workers, there is a risk of losing them to their more flexible counterparts. Now, to mitigate that risk, employers must acknowledge that they realize they're changing course. They must say, we told you this was going to be permanent, and now we're changing our mind. They need to also acknowledge that it may not work for everyone to come back, especially those that have relocated.

And they might offer relocation funding packages or other incentives to get the people that they most want to come back to the office if they have moved, say, out of state, as in Mia's case. Now, as you can see from these four archetypes or Personas, there are myriad reasons for wanting to come back to the office and not wanting to come back to the office. Office. The most successful organizations in getting any sort of return to office policy in place are the ones who are going to take into consideration a wide range of users slash employees as they make a case for coming back into the office. And they do really need to make very individualized appeals to different types of folks about what's in it for them to come back to the office. Now, speaking of which, I suggest that employers take a pull approach as opposed to a push approach. That is, instead of a mandate, make it appealing for employees to want to come into the office. So a growing body of research supports the idea that employees respond far better to environments that pull them in with intrinsic value, rather than push them into the office with mandates and forced returns.

So when the workplace feels more like a place where collaboration and focus and shared purpose genuinely thrive, employees are more likely to want to return of their own accord. It's the difference between being invited to a place that meets your needs versus being told to show up regardless of whether it meets your needs or not. For people like Sarah, it's all about making the office a sanctuary for concentration, a place where interruptions fade into the background and workflow is undisturbed. For James, it's about offering a collaborative environment, ensuring that in person days are truly engaging and not spent chained to your laptop on teams calls. And for employees like Alex, a neurodivergent friendly workplace could mean reducing sensory stressors, ensuring easy access to the essentials, and creating flexible spaces that are really all their own so they have that predictability. And for those like Mia, it's all about honoring the autonomy and flexibility that remote work has allowed, perhaps by encouraging remote friendly connections or fostering hybrid teams. Or if you really want Mia back into the office, paying her relocation expenses just as if she were a new employee you were recruiting. But again, be prepared to lose Mia to a competitor, because it sounds like Mia's got a pretty sweet thing going with her extended family and the home of her dreams. She may not want to come back for anything.

All right. As more companies enforce RTO or Return to Office mandates, the need for a pull approach, one that entices employees back by showing the clear benefits of being in the office, has never been clearer. And I hope this episode has demonstrated that Return to Office doesn't have to be a point of friction. It can be a well designed choice that respects diverse needs, that values employees time, and ultimately creates a workplace worth coming back to. The companies that succeed will be those that listen closely to the stories behind Return to Office hesitations and find ways to genuinely support the diverse lives of their people.

Again, taking that user experience engineering approach that so many of them so religiously follow with their customer experience. They need to turn that back on their employees. And if you need any help with that, call me. I can help you. I have the user experience background and I have the future of work background. We can definitely put something together. And I can help you design that Return to Office experience that's going to appeal to the different employee types that you have in your organization. Because at the end of the day, it's not just about where we work, it's about how we work best together.

So remember, the future of work is not only about the technology, it's about the values we uphold, the communities we build, and the sustainable growth we all strive for.

We need to keep exploring, keep innovating, and keep envisioning the remarkable possibilities that lie ahead. As always, stay curious, stay informed, and stay ahead of the curve.

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