'Hushed hybrid': Even as RTO mandates grow, workers still aren't fully showing up to the office-a sign managers are too burnt out to enforce policies

"Just because the boss makes the rules, doesn't mean the employees will follow them. Even after continued efforts to crack down on a return to office, the mandate-compliance gap between companies setting return-to-office policies and employees actually following them is still cavernous, new research finds. But it's not just rank-and-file workers leading the charge. Burnt-out managers uninterested in enforcing the RTO push are often the overlooked drivers of the "hushed hybrid" workplace culture."

"While companies have steadily increased expectations of employees being in the office, actual office attendance has only modestly increased, according to a report released Wednesday by flexible-work insights platform Flex Index. Across 14,000 companies, required office time has increased 12% since early 2024-from an average of 2.57 days in office per week to 2.87-but actual office attendance has increased by only 1% to 3%."

""Hushed hybrid," or workers quietly staying home some work days despite workplace policies requiring their in-person presence, became a workplace trend last year as a result of continued push from employees to have workplace flexibility, as well as the desire for managers to retain their workforce and morale."

"Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward, which publishes Flex Index, said employees can get away with working from home more than mandated because many can make the practical argument for it: If workers have team members in different time zones or offices, it doesn't make sense to attend myriad Zoom meetings in an office's open-floor plan. It's sometimes just more productive to work from home on those days."

Companies increased required in-office time across 14,000 firms, with mandated days rising from 2.57 to 2.87 per week, a 12% increase since early 2024. Actual office attendance, however, rose only marginally, roughly one percentage point to about 3%. Many employees quietly stay home some required days, a phenomenon labeled "hushed hybrid." Practical reasons such as cross-time-zone teams and unproductive in-office Zoom meeting routines make working from home defensible for many roles. Manager burnout and reluctance to strictly enforce RTO policies also contribute to continued noncompliance and sustained hybrid flexibility in practice.

Read at Fortune