Bosses are making their staff return to the office or quit—but they’re notably absent themselves

Success·return to officeBosses are making their staff return to the office or quit—but they’re notably absent themselvesBy Orianna Rosa RoyleBy Orianna Rosa RoyleAssociate Editor, SuccessOrianna Rosa RoyleAssociate Editor, SuccessOrianna Rosa Royle is the Success associate editor at Fortune, overseeing careers, leadership, and company culture coverage

She was previously the senior reporter at Management Today, Britain's longest-running publication for CEOs

But while forcing workers to choose whether they love remote working more than being employed, a survey shows bosses aren’t ing their own mandates

Meanwhile, more than half of Fortune 100 desk workers have workplaces with fully in-office policies, according to new data from real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle Inc

Although working from makes employment more feasible for parents, pet owners, workers with disabilities, and those who can’t afford to near the office, bosses have been calling staff back to their desks, often in the name of creativity and collaboration

Yet only 7% of CEOs go into the office five days a week, according to IWG, compared with 64% for those with a salary below £30,000 ($38,000) who are expected to be in the workplace full-time

Perhaps unsurprisingly, workers who have been stung by RTO mandates will ly be left reeling by the double standards of the findings—and CEOs know it

The re found two-thirds of respondents know they would lose talented people if they insisted on their employees being present in a central office every day, as nine in 10 work flexibly themselves

CEOs who don’t go to the office Despite being notably absent from the workplace themselves, bosses have spent the best part of three years cracking down on office attendance

Last year, Dell gave its workers literal red flags for not swiping their badge enough

Amazon put an end to “coffee badging” by setting a minimum-hour obligation on in-office days

Other es went one step further and explicitly told their workforce to commute into the office or find somewhere else to work

Patagonia gave some 90 staff members just three days to decide whether they would relocate close to the office or quit their jobs. wise, the gaming giant Roblox warned workers who can’t make it to the company’s physical office that they would have to find another job—as did the bosses at TikTok and Walmart

Then there’s Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy, who warned workers that if they can’t commit to the company’s mandate, then “it’s bably not going to work out for you.” CEOs want to avoid commuting, but so do employees Why don’t CEOs want to work more from the office? For the same reason as most: IWG’s re shows they want to avoid a long commute

In reality, with inflation high but wages low, so too do unemployed Gen Z grads who are having to turn down job opportunities because they can’t afford the commute

However, it’s those at the bottom end of the pay scale—who are most impacted by the costs associated with RTO mandates—who are also most ly to be asked to commute to the office

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