CEOs who insist workers return to the office are living in an ‘echo chamber,’ a future of work expert says

Worsening that echo chamber structure is the fact that CEOs are “largely white men,” Schulte said.

“Many of them have either virtually no care responsibilities or have somebody else taking care of them. So they have been able to devote themselves 150% to work.”

Schulte said it’s no surprise that some of the worst offenders when it comes to strict RTO mandates are in “very male-dominated overwork cultures, like finance, tech, and law.”

Pop the echo chamber bubble

Schulte’s research for the book showed her that many companies had taken advantage of the disruptions caused by COVID to rethink their methods and make positive and lasting changes.

“They started by talking down to the people in their organization, not just in this rarefied bubble of the C-suite,” Schulte told BI.

She said there is not a one-size-fits-all outcome; organizations are different and have different cultures and priorities. But what’s key is that leaders are willing to listen and act.

If that’s not forthcoming from your CEO, there are things you can do as an individual and an organization to bring about change.

“Run an internal pilot, gather your own data, make the case, and continue to make it,” Schulte said.

It’s also important to acknowledge that working effectively in a digital work environment means you have to be much more explicit about tasks, transparent in communication, and have a clear accountability system.

With that echo chamber, a couple of brave leaders are going to have to be willing to do something differently, but it can definitely happen, Schulte said. Some of the CEOs she spoke to have had “aha moments.”

Public policy is another route that will play a role in the future of how we work, Schulte added.

“That can have some important guardrails that can then create the pressure for leaders to change, for organizations to pay attention to what they’re doing rather than just going on with this inertia of the status quo.”