How to deal with a RTO office mandate

Hybrid/Remote Centre of Excellence

Sponsored by Nola Simon Advisory: Learn More From This Bonus Podcast Episode

Recently I had to sort through an ethical dilemma. I was approached by an organization to help with their return to office mandate. There was to be a keynote and a panel interview. It got cancelled yesterday but I still think it’s important to talk about my approach to resolving this conflict. If you know anything about my work at all, you know that I’m in favour of autonomy. Autonomy and mandates are polar opposites. As an external consultant, the organization was not coming to me to ask if I thought the mandate was a good idea. They were asking me to share my story. It took me 6 years to achieve a 4 day work from home schedule. I started advocating for it in 2011, we started a pilot in 2012. We lost it completely in 2013. After that, we added a day per year. I went from 5 days #wfh to 0. It was emotional. Traumatic even. It felt like loss. Anger, frustration, grief. Having to explain to my kids why I couldn’t see them for more than an hour a day was hard. I felt like an awful parent. But if I hadn’t lived this, I wouldn’t be doing what I do now. How did I shift from awful loss to opportunity? It’s one of the most powerful stories I tell. Not many people experienced a return to office mandate prior to the pandemic. So am I facilitating a return to office or am I helping people learn from my experience so they don’t suffer the way I suffered? That’s why I decided to do it. And then it got cancelled. Always the way lol. If you need help with return to office, I’m available. #storytelling #speaking #keynote #panel #rt