Office Mandates Boost Agility—but Hurt Culture, Study Finds

Lose-lose proposition for CEOs? Employee satisfaction or company agility. Pick one.

The Economist: “…we found that firms which insist on staff being in the office five days a week won better ratings from their employees on ‘agility’—a company’s ability to anticipate and respond quickly to changes in the marketplace. ‘If you’re in the office,’ explains Charlie Sull of CultureX, ‘you’re going to be able to receive information much more quickly and efficiently, and respond to new circumstances in a more adaptive way.’”

“But on other measures, firms that were strict on office time scored worse than more relaxed ones (see chart). Firms with five-day mandates received lower marks from employees for supportiveness (whether employees feel like their bosses care about them), quality of leadership, toxicity (the extent to which disrespectful behaviour is tolerated in the workplace), candour and work-life balance. (On the three other measures tracked by CultureX, the companies did not score meaningfully better or worse.)”