If you hear any HR/Recruiting Influencer talk bad about returning to work/office, know they haven’t actually worked in an office in probably a decade. They have no idea what they’re talking about, and they’ve most likely already established their professional networks. So, yeah, they have no idea what they’re talking about. RTW for them is HR content porn. They know they’ll get a lot of likes from other old HR people.

Here’s what I know from actually running a company and working in an office today:

• If my employees were most productive on the Moon, I would have them strapped to a rocket by Monday. Every CEO thinks exactly the same way. They don’t give a sh*t about some office building lease. They only care about making their numbers better.

• There’s zero causation between someone saying they’re most productive working at home and actually being measurably most productive at home.

• So many people want to work at home right now, even though it hurts their career, that if you’re a younger worker who comes in and gives average effort in the office, you’re going to win. It’s so easy to win in corporate America today!

• Most data around productivity and working from home is flawed. Most of it was done during the pandemic when everyone was freaked out, so we sat in front of our computers all day and had non-stop Zoom meetings. We also have 3 trillion dollars of free money jammed into the economy, so every company was doing well. Once that all dried up and we got comfortable, measurable productivity fell off a cliff.

• The vast majority of workers lack the self-motivation to work from home and need the structure of an office to be most productive. Roughly 10% of humans perform better working remotely. (Yeah, I know you reading this think you’re one of the 10% – you’re probably not. That’s the entire problem.)

RTW for GenZ has so many advantages. Here are some stats from some new research by deel –

Organizations want GenZ workers more than ever for their digital-native skill set.

Here’s the reality. This isn’t about RTW vs. Remote.

This is about treating workers like adults and giving them some flexibility.

Sure, I’ll come into the office, but when I have a dentist appointment at 2 pm on Tuesday and I have no other meetings after that, I’m not coming back to work so you can see my ass sitting in a cube. That makes no sense.

I think most CEOs and executive teams get that now.

They also understand that the vast majority of workers are more productive and collaborative when they work close together in a space designed for work.

Young workers shouldn’t care about where they work. You should care about what work experience will give you the best network and development. Then work your butt off for a few years and see what happens!