According to Fortune, major corporations including Amazon, JPMorgan, and AT&T are pushing full-time return-to-office (RTO) mandates, but the plans are hitting major practical and cultural roadblocks. Amazon told its 350,000-person workforce in September they needed to be back by early January, but by February, many offices lacked enough desks, forcing continued remote work. AT&T faced similar space issues, while JPMorgan employees expressed outrage on an internal platform, leading the company to disable comments. Workers at both JPMorgan and Amazon have signed petitions protesting the requirements. Workplace strategist Jennifer Moss argues these mandates fail to recognize a permanent cultural change, stating that trying to revert to pre-pandemic norms is like trying to “jam the toothpaste back in the tube.”
The “Third Office” Is The Only Way Forward
Here’s the thing: the experts quoted here are pointing out a massive failure of imagination. Companies are demanding “butts in seats” but haven’t redesigned the seat, or the reason for sitting in it. Jennifer Moss’s concept of the “third office” is crucial. It’s not the pre-pandemic office, and it’s not the pandemic-era home office. It’s a new hybrid space designed for what the office is actually good for: collaboration, networking, mentoring, and building social cohesion.
But look at what’s happening instead. Employees are going in, only to sit on Zoom calls all day at a hot desk. Moss calls that “arbitrary,” and she’s right. If you’re just doing solo work on a laptop, why commute? The mandate becomes a hollow, performative act of control rather than a strategic business decision. For companies struggling with physical space, this is a huge opportunity to rethink the floor plan entirely—create quiet zones, collaboration hubs, anything but a sea of identical desks for tasks better done at home.
The Trust Problem Is Real
And that gets to the core issue John Frehse from Ankura identifies: trust. His quote cuts deep: “You only trust me when I’m in the office. You don’t trust me when I’m at home. What kind of a worker and employer relationship are we dealing with?” A lot of these RTO mandates feel like a solution to executive anxiety, not a plan for productivity. It’s management by surveillance, not by results.
That’s why the communication around these mandates is so often a disaster. Frehse calls it “culturally and intellectually lazy” to just announce a three-day-a-week rule without a detailed, employee-centric rationale. What’s the value-add for *their* career? Sujay Saha’s advice to identify employee “personas” and needs before crafting policy is basic product management 101. Your workforce is your customer. You wouldn’t launch a product without understanding the user. So why redesign work that way?
Chaotic Execution Breeds Rebellion
The chaos on the ground is telling. Amazon’s lack of desks is an embarrassing operational failure. JPMorgan’s CEO dismissing a petition and disabling feedback channels shows a stunning disregard for morale. It sends a clear message: we’ve made our decision, and your lived experience doesn’t matter.
So what happens? You get silent quitting, attrition, and a workforce that’s physically present but mentally checked out. Saha’s suggestion to “reduce the pace” and give mental adjustment time is wise, but it requires humility from leadership that many seem to lack. They want the tube of toothpaste—the genie, the whatever metaphor you prefer—back in its container, neat and controlled. But that’s not how culture works. You can’t mandate culture. You have to design for it. And right now, a lot of big companies are designing for resentment.
