{"id":774540,"date":"2026-08-11T05:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T12:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&p=774540"},"modified":"2026-08-11T09:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:40:14","slug":"return-to-office-disconnect","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/return-to-office-disconnect","title":{"rendered":"Where Are Employees Least Connected? In the Office, It Turns Out"},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[182012,386872,489232,1261],"department":[488812],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-774540","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-hr","tag-office","tag-operations-management","tag-real-estate","department-emerging-technologies"],"acf":{"short_description":"When business leaders declare a return to office, they often expect a boost in connection and collaboration. New data shows otherwise.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Corporate America\u2019s return-to-office trend rests in part on a simple premise: Bring people back and engagement will follow. But recent workplace data highlighted in\u00a0Fast Company<\/em><\/a>\u00a0complicates that assumption. Office-based workers reported the highest rate of workplace disconnection, while fully remote workers reported the lowest."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Left","content":"Snapshot<\/strong>: Half a decade after the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have mandated a return to office. But employees aren\u2019t connecting the way leaders would like. A little indoor clarity could go a long way.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"For executive coach and workplace expert\u00a0Morag Barrett, that finding points to a problem that office mandates alone cannot solve. Barrett believes the workplace must be managed for connection\u2014not merely occupied. Her recommendations center on what she calls intentional leadership habits: noticing who is isolated, creating reasons for meaningful interaction, and making connection part of how teams work rather than an expected by-product of occupying the same building.\r\n\r\nIf leaders want to understand why some employees feel connected and others do not, they first need a clearer picture of the workplace itself\u2014where people sit, where teams gather, which spaces draw people in, and which arrangements might be stifling collaboration.\r\n\r\nFor some organizations, that picture begins with an operational basemap, a digital representation of the workplace showing floor plans, office spaces, assets, and employee-related information in one view. While a map itself won\u2019t spark employee engagement, it can be the canvas that helps managers and workplace planners see how connections either form or break down.\r\n

Return to Office\u2014and Lingering Bad Practices \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe location of employees and teams\u2014even equipment and amenities\u2014can influence office cohesion and productivity. Yet, location decisions are often made from spreadsheets and static seating charts.\r\n\r\nAn operational basemap can reveal that members of a project team are spread across multiple floors, that a new employee is seated far from a potential mentor, or that collaboration spaces are disconnected from the teams that could benefit from them most.\r\n\r\nAt the main campus of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), indoor mapping<\/a> helps leaders manage more than 500 buildings, over 6 million square feet of space, and 8,000 employees\u2014an environment too complex to understand with spreadsheets and intuition.\r\n\r\nUsing an operational basemap built on geographic information system (GIS<\/a>) technology, LLNL staff have been \u201cdefragging\u201d the lab, guiding employee placements and reducing redundancies such as multiple satellite offices assigned to a single employee.\r\n\r\nThe map translates a sprawling workplace into visible patterns, with a clear view of where employees and teams are clustered, scattered, or separated. With this knowledge, leaders can make more deliberate choices about adjacency, shared space, and support.\r\n\r\nFor some organizations, the basemap also helps answer questions like: Which people need more frequent contact? Which teams would\u00a0benefit\u00a0from closer proximity? Do certain spaces encourage informal connection, or does the layout work against that?\r\n

An Environment Built for Connection<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe return-to-office debate has stirred questions both procedural and operational\u2014mandates versus enticements, presence versus productivity. But to create a truly connected workplace, leaders need to understand which conditions help employees engage and collaborate.\r\n\r\nWhile an operational basemap can\u2019t single-handedly solve a lack of engagement, it can help an organization\u2019s leaders see the workplace clearly enough to make better decisions. When it comes to building cohesion and culture, it pays to know where and how connections occur."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nReturn-to-Office Mandates and a Disconnected Workplace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Business leaders can mandate a return to office, but connection and collaboration don\u2019t necessarily follow. 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