Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy is right. Not because a return to the office (RTO) is the best policy in our new era of work, but because he, like many leaders, is grappling with how to deliver success in a fundamentally changed environment. With shareholder expectations, customer demands, and an evolving workforce, CEOs like Jassy face an impossible equation: delivering short-term results while managing a workforce that resists the old rules.
Why Leaders Feel Lost Without the Office
For executives like Jassy, who’ve spent years mastering this environment, their authority and expertise are often communicated through the power dynamics of an office setting. The face-to-face conversations, strategic roundtables, and day-to-day observations in the office give them confidence that operations are running smoothly, that employees are aligned, and that the culture is strong. They feel that decisions made in this environment are cohesive, accountable, and, above all, effective. It’s a structure that has reliably delivered results, promoted innovation within a controlled space, and led to their personal advancement.
When the pandemic arrived, these leaders found themselves in an unusual situation—they didn’t get a say in the transition to a new mode of work. The pandemic forced their hands, pushing their organizations into remote work almost overnight. Leaders like Jassy adapted as best they could, but the truth is, they are still figuring out how to drive success when everything they relied on has been upended. Over the past few years, they’ve watched as the cornerstones of their leadership eroded. Employees’ expectations shifted dramatically, and the in-person office—once the foundation of corporate life—became negotiable, optional, even irrelevant to many. Remote work, hybrid models, and distributed teams have disrupted these established methods.
Suddenly, leaders like Jassy are being asked to trust that the organization can thrive without everyone gathered in the same physical space. They’re being challenged to inspire, engage, and manage from a distance, without the “control” they once relied on. This shift is not only uncomfortable but creates a sense of vulnerability. They may feel that they are sacrificing the stability, accountability, and direct oversight they believe are essential to delivering results. There is a tangible fear that the intangible aspects of work—commitment, culture, collaboration—will weaken without the gravity of the physical office.
CEOs See the Future, But Struggle to Adapt
So, it’s not really surprising that once in-person work became possible again, many leaders, including Jassy, are reaching for what’s familiar. Not because they don’t understand that the world is changing, but because they lack a proven model to deliver results at scale in a fully remote or hybrid setup. The reality is that these executives aren’t blind to the future; they can read the writing on the wall. These leaders are astute, having watched macroeconomic forces and cultural trends shape their industries for years. They know how to read the landscape and see that the workplace is fundamentally reshaping. They recognize that in five years, organizations will need to operate like ecosystems rather than hierarchies, managing talent that’s globally distributed, with teams forming dynamically around projects. They foresee a workplace driven by self-motivation and trust, where culture needs intentional design rather than emerging naturally in-office.
But without a roadmap to get there, they’re reverting to what they know works in the short term. From their perspective, these leaders support RTO as a decision rooted not in stubbornness but in strategic pragmatism. Despite understanding that the future points toward flexibility, they’d argue that the current RTO mandate is about addressing immediate organizational needs and maintaining a sense of stability as they adapt.
What CEOs Should Be Telling Employees About RTO
So, the real problem is not that they are asking employees back to the offices, it’s that they are not framing it as a step to ensure immediate operational stability, a temporary bridge, a way to regain a sense of control as they navigate uncharted waters. If these leaders openly communicated the RTO as a bridge between today’s realities and tomorrow’s possibilities, positioning it as a transitional phase that keeps the organization grounded while they evolve, the message would resonate very differently.
Imagine if Amazon’s CEO leveled with his teams, acknowledging both the need for today’s stability and the vision for tomorrow’s flexibility in a message like this:
- We’re asking you to come back to the office because we’re in a transition. As an organization, we’re facing the challenge of finding new ways to deliver value in an environment that’s constantly changing. The traditional, in-person work model has its flaws, but it has also been proven to drive outcomes that we’re still working out how to achieve remotely.
- But make no mistake—we see the future, and we know it’s one that embraces flexibility, autonomy, and hybrid models that respect employees’ needs. Our return-to-office policy is not the end goal but a phase in our journey. Over the next few years, we’ll be investing in the technologies, tools, and structures that will allow us to operate at our best, regardless of where we are.
- This is a call to action, not just to return to the office but to help us build a new model that allows us to retain our culture, drive innovation, and achieve the results our customers and shareholders expect. We need your feedback, your ideas, and your commitment to create a workplace that works for everyone. Together, we’ll move from this transitional phase to a future-ready organization that honors both business needs and personal fulfillment.
Ultimately, this is the real message employees want and management needs: not a return to the past but a collaborative, forward-looking plan. Leaders who communicate a vision that moves beyond RTO can transform today’s policies into stepping stones toward a workplace that aligns with the demands of tomorrow. This means leaders who aren’t afraid to be authentic and say that while they envision a more decentralized, hybrid organization in a few years, they aren’t ready to leap there yet. They need time to establish guardrails around productivity, culture, and innovation—outcomes that are harder to control in a fully remote setup without a strong foundational structure in place.
Leaders must understand that the new social contract is a win-win between people and organizations. Their best people work not because they have to, not because they’re told to, and not because they’re measured on it. They work because they want to. Because working for what they’re trying to accomplish together is their way of achieving their purpose in life.
