{"id":6736,"date":"2026-06-18T08:28:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T12:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/?p=6736"},"modified":"2026-06-18T08:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T12:28:42","slug":"the-office-has-to-earn-the-commute-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/the-office-has-to-earn-the-commute-now\/","title":{"rendered":"The Office Has to Earn the Commute Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The return-to-office fight is loud again. Just last week, hundreds of California state workers <\/a>drove into downtown Sacramento and stopped traffic for blocks, protesting a new in-office mandate and asking for a daily stipend to cover the cost of the commute. Banks like PNC<\/a> have gone to five days a week. Fidelity, Instagram and NBCUniversal have all tightened up heading into 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The companies all say the same thing. Being together builds culture. There is some truth to that. But there is also a growing pile of research<\/a> showing that when you force the issue without giving people a reason, it backfires. Eight in ten companies admit they have lost talent over their RTO rules. The ones with the strictest mandates see the highest turnover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So before we talk about getting people into the office, it is worth being honest about why so many of them would rather not be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why People Push Back<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to read the resistance as people just wanting to stay home in their pajamas. That is not it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who work from home report better work-life balance. The commute is the big one. For a lot of folks it is an hour or more each way, time and gas money that buys them nothing. Then there is focus. Plenty of people get more done at the kitchen table than they ever could in an open office with someone tapping them on the shoulder every twenty minutes. And there is the quiet relief of not being \u201con\u201d all day, not having to look busy and available every minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of that is laziness. Those are real things people are holding onto, and any honest talk about the office has to start by admitting they have a point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Office Actually Offers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Here is the other side of it, though, and it is just as real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you ask people what would actually make them want to come in, the answer is almost never the desk or the building. It is the people. In one Harvard study, more than 80% said the thing that would pull them in was rebuilding team bonds and spending time with coworkers. About 74% said seeing their work friends. The office gives you the hallway chat that solves a problem in two minutes, the new hire who learns by overhearing how things get done, the small moments of connection you just cannot schedule over video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the catch. None of that happens on its own just because people are in the building. You can fill a room with people and still have everybody sitting there with headphones on, watching the clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making the Day Worth It<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is where the real work is, and it has less to do with policy than most leaders think. If you want people in the office, the day has to be worth what it costs them to get there. Here are a few things that genuinely help:<\/p>\n\n\n\n