How Total Rewards Might Enable ‘Workplace Balance’ Amid RTO Push

After the past few years of pandemic-influenced remote work, large businesses such as JPMorgan, Amazon and AT&T have joined a growing list of American companies requiring workers to fully return to the office (RTO) in 2025.

Is your organization next?

According to research by WTW, almost two-thirds of U.S. organizations (61%) have implemented a formal policy that requires employees in the office for a minimum number of days a week. The drive behind greater in-office presence is the belief that face-to-face interactions boost engagement within teams (84%), strengthen corporate culture (71%) and increase collective productivity by promoting personal interaction of teams (64%).

Numerous reports also call out maximization of corporate real estate costs as a factor in many employers’ RTO decisions.

However, this contrasts with other WTW research on the leading benefits of remote work, including promoting attraction and retention of specific roles that could not be filled without flexible workplace options (84%), increased engagement by having better work-life balance (78%) and greater employee retention (76%).

Such a precarious balancing act is to be expected in today’s workplace, said Lesli Jennings, WTW’s North America leader for work, rewards and careers.

“In 2025, the landscape of work is expected to further evolve into a hybrid model as the standard for many industries,” she said. “This shift aims to balance the benefits of remote work with the continued need for in-person collaboration and innovation.”

How might total rewards (TR) professionals contribute to their organization’s “workplace balance” strategies? This article shares some insights.

Crafting RTO Plans to Meet Employees’ Needs

According to WTW’s Global Benefit Attitudes Survey:

53% of surveyed employees that have work that can be done remotely indicated they would look to change jobs within 12 months if their employer mandated a full-time RTO policy.
Almost half (48%) of surveyed hybrid and remote workers reported they would be willing to take a pay cut of 8%, on average, in order to have work flexibility.

Because the demand for flexibility and remote work options remains high, said Jennings, organizations should consider evolving their flexible work models to meet these expectations.

“It is important for organizations to consider their unique business strategies, work/jobs structures and cultures when designing optimal work models — emphasizing that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution,” she said.

For example, amenities like onsite services (i.e. subsidized meals and health clinic access) are part of the appealing in-person work environment that employees are seeking, said Monica Martin, a senior director of integrated and global solutions and total rewards leader at WTW.

“Employers will also need to have a strategy to effectively support caregiving needs — for both elder care and childcare — and other challenges for employees who are called back into the office,” she said.

If a call to return to the office is in the works, proactive employers should consider ways to get creative with policies, Martin said. For example, can a transition period of RTO be helpful as employees adjust to the new expectations? Furthermore, employers may choose to offer employees more vacation or paid time off as a concession to coming back to the office.

“Even introducing new programs like profit-sharing arrangements to provide more cash incentives can be useful in making the RTO proposition more compelling and further link potential company financial upside with employee financial upside,” Martin said.

But Martin also cautioned TR professionals cannot “just guess” at what their next steps should be this year.

“They need to engage with their employees in some way to listen and understand how shifts in work policies may impact employees and where total rewards can respond,” she said. “With that data, total rewards professionals can evaluate the effectiveness of their current offerings and make recommendations for change to support the new work strategy.”

It’s also critical for TR professionals to consider policies and programs that help their employees manage stress and reduce burnout when they return to the office, said Keith Spencer, a career expert at FlexJobs.

He noted trends, such as four-day workweeks with compressed schedules, enhanced office amenities (with an emphasis on comfort and casual), and increased worker choice on workday start/end times beyond core hours, may gain traction as employees continue to seek greater freedom and work-life balance.

“Ultimately, companies that embrace these shifts may find themselves better positioned to attract and retain top talent,” Spencer said.

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