An Office Doesn’t Fix Loneliness at Work

People often see the return-to-office (RTO) debate in black-and-white: In-person work fosters connection, while remote work breaks it down. In 2025, 37 percent of companies required office attendance, up from 17 percent the year before. Companies like Amazon, JPMorgan and AT&T have all issued similar mandates. The idea is simple: Bring people back to the office, and connection and engagement will follow.

But the facts show something else. MIT Sloan Management Review examined the data and found these mandates hurt employee engagement and lead to more people leaving, especially top performers. Eight out of 10 companies said they lost talent because of return-to-office rules. The research also found no improvement in financial results from these mandates.

So organizations are losing their best people and not gaining anything in return.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.