Return to Office Is Not About Collaboration - It’s About Control

When leaders say, “We need people back in the office for collaboration and culture,” what they often mean is, “We don’t know how to manage unless we can see you.”

In reality, most so-called “collaboration” in the office looks like back-to-back meetings that could’ve been emails, hallway gossip, or forced team-building that drains rather than inspires. The truth is, remote work revealed just how much fluff fills a traditional 9-to-5. It showed that workers could deliver more with less oversight and that terrified a lot of managers who equated physical presence with productivity. This isn’t about team culture. It’s about corporate insecurity.

And it’s costing people their jobs, health, and sanity.

Return-to-Office Disproportionately Hurts the Most Vulnerable

Let’s not pretend RTO mandates are a neutral policy shift. They’re a blunt instrument that disproportionately impacts those already fighting uphill battles in the workforce: parents, disabled workers, people of color, caregivers, and lower-income employees.

The ability to work from home offered relief from systems that never supported these groups to begin with. Now, instead of building on that progress, many companies are actively dismantling it - citing productivity or “team spirit” while ignoring the very real consequences for those who never fit neatly into a 1950s office mold. Equity doesn’t happen by dragging everyone back into the same box. It happens by rethinking what that box even needs to look like.

Working Parents, Especially Mamas, Are Being Set Up to Fail

Let’s talk about the silent exodus. During the pandemic, remote work saved thousands of working mothers from having to drop out of the workforce entirely. It provided the flexibility needed to manage school closures, sick kids, and caregiving without sacrificing their careers.

Now, return-to-office policies are forcing them into impossible choices. Pay for expensive childcare or leave the job. Miss your kid’s doctor appointment or risk being labeled “not committed.” For single parents and families without generational wealth or support systems, this isn’t an inconvenience, it’s a crisis. And once again, it’s women, who are paying the price for a system designed without them in mind.

Disabled Workers Are Losing Ground They Fought Hard to Gain

Remote work didn’t just benefit disabled workers - it finally included them. For decades, disabled professionals were told they couldn’t work because the workplace wasn’t accessible. The pandemic proved otherwise. With remote work, they could excel without needing to justify accommodations or navigate buildings that were never designed for them in the first place.

Now, return-to-office mandates are telling these same employees: “You’re only valuable if you can physically show up.” It’s not just exclusion, it’s erasure.

And it sends a chilling message: that convenience for the company matters more than inclusion for the employee. That’s not culture. That’s discrimination dressed up as policy.

People of Color Are Being Dragged Back Into Toxic Spaces

Let’s not sugarcoat it. Remote work offered a real, tangible reprieve for many Black and Brown professionals who were exhausted by office dynamics steeped in microaggressions, code-switching, and the constant pressure to “fit in.” Being able to work from home meant more mental clarity, less emotional labor, and fewer instances of being the only person of color in the room.

With RTO, those stressors return full force. The office becomes a minefield again, of offhand comments, exclusionary cliques, and performative diversity. If companies were serious about equity, they’d be listening to what employees of color need, not forcing them back into environments that were never designed to support them in the first place.

This Is a Power Play, Not a Productivity Plan

The data is clear: remote workers delivered. Productivity went up, burnout went down (for a while), and employees reported higher job satisfaction. So why the RTO push? Because it’s not about results. It’s about control.

It’s about a generation of executives uncomfortable with trust-based leadership. It’s about preserving systems where they hold all the power - deciding who’s visible, who gets promoted, who “shows up.” RTO is a backlash against progress. It’s a demand for obedience disguised as corporate strategy. And it’s costing companies their talent, innovation, and credibility.

Final Thoughts…

Remote work wasn’t perfect. But it opened doors that many of us never thought we’d get through. To slam them shut now - under the guise of “culture” - isn’t just tone-deaf. It’s oppressive.

If your company is forcing people back to the office, ask yourself:
Whose comfort are they prioritizing and at whose expense?