Employers ‘can’t just bring people back to the office’ without making changes, McKinsey partner says

HR Brew

As HR pros await the verdict in the case of flexible v. in-person work, many are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2024/12/09/hr-sick-of-rto-different-approach">hoping</a>&nbsp;it’ll involve dropping the one-size-fits-all approach.<div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



Business leaders often cite wanting to improve employee collaboration, connectivity, innovation, mentorship, and skill development as reasons to RTO, but a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/returning-to-the-office-focus-more-on-practices-and-less-on-the-policy">report</a>&nbsp;from consulting firm <a href="https://fortune.com/company/mckinsey/" target="_blank">McKinsey</a> suggests these goals can be achieved no matter where employees work.



“We can’t just bring people back to the office, and changing nothing else, assume that all of a sudden we get collaboration, or all of a sudden we get connectivity,” Bryan Hancock, a partner at McKinsey, told HR Brew. “It does require practical actions of leaders and of managers to make that happen.”



Collaboration.&nbsp;Despite many CEOs, like JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Amazon’s Andy Jassy, pushing in-office work for collaboration, only 49% of mostly in-person employees reported feeling collaborative, compared to 51% and 55% for mostly remote and hybrid employees, respectively.



Collaboration, Hancock said, comes down to the environment in which employees work, not the number of days they’re in an office. Employers interested in improving collaboration in the office should ensure there are enough desks, dedicated meeting rooms, and flexible spaces, as well as quiet areas for solo work, he recommended.



Connectivity. The last few years of <a href="https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2025/01/23/employees-are-more-unhappy-and-disengaged-now-than-during-the-covid-19-pandemic">high</a> disengagement have taken a toll on workplace relationships, with some employees <a href="https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2025/03/03/employees-care-less-and-less-about-workplace-relationships-new-research-finds">no longer</a> seeking them out, but McKinsey’s data shows most employees still feel some level of connectivity. Some 72% of hybrid employees reported feeling connected to colleagues, while 66% of mostly in-person and 65% mostly remote employees feel the same.



If employees feel disconnected from their peers, Hancock said HR can help by prompting managers to facilitate connection through one-on-one meetings and collaboration opportunities.



Innovation.&nbsp;Some experts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2024/10/28/hr-is-still-navigating-rto-nearly-five-years-after-the-pandemic-began">suggest</a>&nbsp;in-person work doesn’t automatically lead to innovation. Only 47% of mostly in-person workers reported feeling innovative, trailing behind 51% and 54% of mostly remote and hybrid employees, McKinsey found.



As with connectedness, Hancock said managers can help improve innovation by “setting the direction, making the ideas come together, and then making sure that team members have the time and space to execute on the new innovative idea.”



Mentorship and skills development.&nbsp;Learning and development opportunities can be a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2024/08/05/josh-bersin-guild-career-pathways-strategy">critical</a>&nbsp;recruitment and retention strategy. And they happen to need the most improvement across each work model. Only 52% of hybrid workers reported having L&amp;D access, a percentage that drops to 45% and 43% for mostly in-person and remote employees.



“What we’re seeing across modes is individual employees saying that they would like to see more investment in learning opportunities,” Hancock said. He recommended HR create intentional mentorship opportunities between “novice and expert” employees, and an “apprenticeship culture,” by encouraging employees to learn on the job through coworkers and training programs.



In the end.&nbsp;No matter how a company chooses to work, Hancock said, each of these areas will continue to need improvement.



“We see organizations that we’re working with that are being quite thoughtful on this, thinking through both: What are the underlying management practices that we want to change? And then how do we make sure that our physical environment is making that happen? And if we need to change the physical environment, let’s invest in changing it,” he said.



This report was written by Mikaela Cohen and was <a href="https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2025/03/07/rto-mandates-are-not-leading-to-more-collaboration-connectivity-or-innovation">originally published</a> by <a href="https://www.hr-brew.com/">HR Brew</a>.</div>

“We can’t just bring people back to the office, and changing nothing else, assume that all of a sudden we get collaboration, or all of a sudden we get connectivity,” Bryan Hancock, a partner at McKinsey, told HR Brew.

Employers 'can't just bring people back to the office' without making changes, McKinsey partner says

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