Why strict return-to-office mandates do not make sense

“[Our employer] has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil... The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”

Right you are, Mr. Scrooge, and it is as true today as it was when Charles Dickens first wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843.

Employers still hold the power to make us happy (or unhappy) in work. And in 2025, one of the simplest, cost-free ways to do that is by embracing hybrid work.

A win for workers and employers

The evidence is clear: hybrid work isn’t just a perk—it’s a wellbeing, productivity and retention strategy. A Eurofound review of ten studies across Austria, Finland, Lithuania, and Spain found that workers with hybrid arrangements report better wellbeing, higher job satisfaction, and improved work-life balance. Saving commuting time was the biggest reason employees chose hybrid work, translating into more time for family, exercise, and rest—all of which feed back into productivity.

Employers benefit too. Research by a Stanford economist shows employees who work from home at least two days a week are just as productive and promotable as their office-based peers—and 33 percent less likely to quit. That’s a serious retention dividend.

Hybrid models also help employers attract talent, reduce overhead costs, boost employee engagement, improve broader digital transformation, and advance sustainability goals by cutting commute-related emissions.

Hybrid work strengthens communities

The benefits don’t stop at the office door. Hybrid work delivers a social dividend that ripples through communities.

When workers can spend part of the week at home, they are no longer stuck in expensive urban centres. This opens opportunities for revitalising rural towns and villages that have long struggled with depopulation. The Irish Government’s investment in digital hubs and high-speed broadband under Our Rural Future and Our Living Islands policies reflects this shift.

Research by Turas Nura highlights the positive impact: remote work drives local spending, supports childcare and hospitality, and reduces carbon emissions. It also promotes inclusion—especially for women, who are seven times more likely to leave the workforce due to caring responsibilities. Hybrid work helps keep them in employment, strengthening gender equality and family stability.

Put simply: hybrid work doesn’t just change where we work—it changes where we live, spend, and belong.

Why strict mandates fail

If hybrid work is good for workers, employers, and communities, why are some companies doubling down on strict return-to-office mandates?

Collaboration is often cited as the reason—but this assumption doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. A UC Santa Cruz study finds that virtual collaboration is just as effective when managed well, and Stanford research shows coordinated hybrid patterns result in similar productivity and creativity levels as a full-time office presence.

If hybrid workers are equipped with trust and clear expectations, requiring everyone to be in the office every day reflects a desire for visibility rather than genuine collaboration—a costly proxy for control.

The evidence suggests these mandates do more harm than good. A Hays survey of 3600 workers found that more than a third fear a return-to-office order, with women and younger workers disproportionately affected. Cost is the biggest concern, cited by 59 percent of respondents. Particularly for younger workers and those on lower wages, housing expenses near urban centres and the cost of commuting add significantly to their overall cost of living.

The consequence is that 46 percent of workers would consider quitting if forced back into the office fulltime, according to Pew Research Centre. For employers, that means higher attrition, lower morale, and a harder fight for talent.

Where policy fits in

Ireland’s Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 gives workers the right to request remote or flexible work—but not the right to have that request granted. The Workplace Relations Commission will only adjudicate on the process the employer followed when reviewing a request, not the merit of a request. That’s not good enough to protect workers.

We don’t have to look too far for better inspiration. The Employment Act 2018 sets out the laws on zero-hour contracts. Under the law, workers whose contracts don’t reflect their actual hours over 12 months can claim a banded-hours contract. Once placed on a band (there are eight bands covering a certain number of hours a week), they are entitled to work an average of those hours for the next 12 months.

Why not apply the same principle to hybrid work? If your contract does not accurately reflect your average number of remote days over the past year, you should have the right to a contract that does. This would give workers predictability and protect against arbitrary, top-down mandates.

A reminder

Dickens reminds us that happiness at work doesn’t have to cost the employer anything. Hybrid work proves it. Employers have the power to make work a pleasure, not a toil—without spending a fortune. It shouldn’t take a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past for your boss to see that, too.