Many employees remember the peculiar way that remote work came roaring onto the corporate scene in 2020. The year before, just 8% of remote-capable employees were working outside of the office. By the end of 2020, that number had soared to 70%.
Despite predictions that remote work would be gone by now, it’s become a permanent feature of the business landscape. Even so, major conglomerates like Instagram, Truist, and Paramount Skydance have gone viral for their sudden and aggressive return-to-office policies.
Yet data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ recent Time Use Survey shows that around 35% of employees did some or all of their work at home each workday in 2025. Gallup data further underscores the fact that remote work is here to stay, indicating that 26% of employees worked in exclusively remote roles as recently as mid-2026.
While employers debate whether to continue to build their distributed teams or have everyone in the office full time, it may be time to examine whether we’re asking the wrong question. Perhaps the solution lies not in either-or but in how to balance both remote and in-office work for maximum productivity and ROI.
Remote vs. RTO: Why Cookie-Cutter Policies Don’t Always Work
You’ve probably heard it before: Your workforce isn’t a monolith. Though one-size-fits-all workplace policies can be tempting because they seemingly offer a frictionless path to achieving a particular goal, they’re often hard to maintain. Here’s why.
Role-Based and Demographic Disparities
BLS data shows that those with advanced degrees are more likely to have access to remote work, as their knowledge-based roles are usually more suitable for this arrangement.
Women also spent more time working at home in 2025, highlighting their disproportionate representation in office-based roles and the need to balance work with caregiving responsibilities.
Knowing this, it’s crucial to avoid cookie-cutter RTO policies that don’t consider the needs of employees in different roles and demographic groups.
Diverse Operational Needs
Roles that are deeply creative and collaborative often rely on spontaneous interactions that are best facilitated by an in-person office environment. In contrast, technical and task-oriented roles in engineering or data analysis may benefit from more focused, uninterrupted remote work.
Applying uniform flexibility rules across the organization can lead to low productivity and morale in departments that don’t feel like their work environment matches their needs.
Tips for Finding (and Keeping) the Balance
Figuring out how to balance remote and in-person work in a way that meets the needs of your organization and its employees can be a tough task. The following recommendations can help you build policies that work for everyone.
View Flexibility as an Asset
Recent survey data show that work-life balance has surpassed pay and benefits as the most important factor in a current or future job.
Flexibility not only motivates top talent to choose your organization over your competitors but can also help you retain top performers and avoid high turnover. Far from being just another issue to manage, it’s a tool to help you attract and hold onto the best employees.
Partner With Your Workforce
It’s imperative to survey your employees and find out their preferences regarding remote and hybrid work. Doing so can help you avoid policies that aren’t a good fit for your workforce, which can lead to feelings of resentment or low morale.
Provide flexibility and autonomy where you can, and invest in an in-person culture for the employees who need the office environment to thrive.
Redefine the Role of the Physical Office
Make sure your employees aren’t just coming into the office for the sake of being there. To discourage presenteeism, it’s important to consider whether your RTO policies are purposeful and aligned with each employee’s specific role.
Shift Toward Outcome-Based Management
Many question the “why” behind the mandate that employees be in the office a certain number of days per week. In many cases, it’s because organizations are confusing visibility with productivity.
To properly manage a balanced flexible work policy, it’s essential to shift your focus away from “time on task” metrics and instead focus on outcomes and performance.
Balance Matters When It Comes to Your Workplace Policies
Uniform policies rarely work in diverse organizations because they often try to standardize rules across varying workplace realities. For this reason, achieving long-term sustainability often requires dropping traditional metrics that ignore functional demands and alienate large swaths of the workforce.
If you’re looking to build a balanced WFH or RTO policy, AssetHR can lend a hand. Contact us today to learn more about how our HR consulting services can help you find what works for your organization.