More workers are feeling militant, ready to quit – especially women and parents. And the reason isn’t pay or benefits but the growing insistence from employers that people should be in the office.

The attitude towards home-working among senior management has changed sharply. It was the only option for many during Covid-19, then it offered a practical combination of wellbeing and the potential for more engagement and higher productivity. Now working from home is seen as a luxury – a too-comfortable arrangement that organisations can’t afford to indulge. In a KPMG survey, 83% of CEOs expected all their staff to be office-based within the next three years. This year, bosses at JPMorgan Chase and WPP have demanded staff return to full-time office working.

A movement of resistance

But large-scale new research shows the majority of employees aren’t going to simply accept a return-to-office mandate. There’s a resistance movement. An analysis of more than a million observations from the Labour Force Survey and 500,000 responses by King’s College London from the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (SWAA) found that less than half of UK workers would comply with a request to return to the office full-time. Around 50% said they would look for a remote working job; 10% would quit immediately if asked to return full-time. Women were especially unlikely to comply – 64% said they would either quit straightaway or look for another job. Fathers with school-age children were also found to be more resistant.

From quiet refusal to vocal backlash

These findings are backed up by visible signs of discontent. JPMorgan was forced to shut down its internal chat forum because of the number of negative comments. A petition opposing the return-to-office call was signed by 18,000 staff at WPP.

Homeworking has become part of the new psychological contract between employers and employees. What was once a special opportunity for the few – to meet particular needs or circumstances – is now widely seen as a right. So any clumsy attempt to reverse the situation risks serious problems with engagement and retention.

A two-tier workplace?

Most organisations appear to have found a compromise. Staff with a need for more flexible hours – due to caring responsibilities or difficult commutes – have often been allowed to stay as homeworkers. But that doesn’t end the issue for HR.

Researchers from King’s College London have warned of more ‘two-tier’ workplaces, where remote workers face ‘flexibility stigma’ and bias in decisions around career progression and who gets the best roles.

HR’s role in bridging the divide

Forms of flexible and remote working aren’t going away – they can’t be put back in a box. HR needs to help prevent a war over return-to-office policies by making the divide between office-based and home-based workers less significant. That means building trust and psychological safety.

When employees trust that their employer has their best interests at heart, they’re less likely to see return-to-office requests as a threat. A culture of trust also means managers are less preoccupied with concerns about productivity.

Trust starts with clarity – around expectations and behaviours – and with strong conversations between line managers and their reports. Soft skills like listening, empathy, critical thinking, wisdom and discretion become essential. Tensions and grievances should be addressed early, through methods such as mediation and neutral assessment.

Culture and conversation need to catch up

The shift to more hybrid working is still unfolding, and workplace cultures haven’t caught up – in how we use technology, in the norms of collaboration, or in day-to-day working practices. There needs to be a strong foundation of relationships and a culture of openness – one where people can speak up and feel heard. That creates trust and makes the question of where people work less contentious.

Practical steps for HR

HR can take a pro-active role by encouraging more honesty and building a virtuous circle of openness and trust. That could include:

• Setting up and encouraging more 360-degree feedback.
• Using mediation at earlier stages of conflict – for minor clashes and misunderstandings.
• Supporting neutral assessment among teams, where each person can speak confidentially and an independent expert shares insights and suggestions.
• Creating a Psychological Safety Index, informed by real conversations with staff about challenging moments or difficult situations.

Employees can also be supported in building up ‘Conversational Integrity’ – a blend of empathy, curiosity, self-awareness, reflective listening and situational awareness.