Return-to-office mandates are emerging as one of the most contentious of the post-pandemic work trends that U.S. employees have faced.

Last year, Gartner data identified that 63% of HR leaders reported an increase in expectations for employees to return to the office. That was even from those organizations which had made a firm commitment to remote working during the COVID-19 crisis.

Hybrid policies were initially seen as a good measure, providing flexibility to workers. But this turns out to have been just an interim approach as companies began to row back on flexibility.

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That is in part because many companies have seen low compliance, according to Gartner’s data, and as a result many are resorting to full RTO mand...