Episode 148: The Real Key to Employee Engagement—Leadership Over Location

Have you noticed a remarkable shift where major companies are mandating return to office policies. Amazon recently joined the ranks of Meta, Google, and others in requiring employees to return full time to the office. What’s particularly interesting is the timing – why now, after years of remote work? We all know that organizations are concerned with productivity so today we want to share some of Zenger Folkman’s research on what we found was the single key to improving employee engagement.

1. Leadership vs. Location in Engagement
   The primary takeaway from Zenger Folkman’s research is that who employees work for, rather than where they work, is the largest factor in employee engagement. Engagement scores varied drastically depending on managerial effectiveness, with highly effective managers seeing engagement in the 80th percentile compared to the 20th percentile under less effective managers.
2. Challenges of Remote Work on Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing
   Microsoft’s research highlighted that remote work reduces cross-group collaboration and real-time engagement, leading to increased siloing. Similarly, other studies showed that junior employees in remote settings face challenges with informal learning and mentoring, which impacts productivity.
3. Counter-Arguments: Remote Success Stories
   Not all organizations are impacted negatively by remote work. Companies like GitLab have successfully maintained innovation and culture while being fully remote, indicating that with the right systems, remote work can still drive high engagement.
4. Systematic Focus on Leadership Development
   The organization Zenger Folkman studied increased engagement by developing leadership effectiveness at every level. They implemented structured action plans, shared them for accountability, and regularly measured engagement outcomes. This approach emphasizes that simply having employees in the office does not drive engagement—leadership effectiveness does.
5. Return-to-Office Mandates: Addressing the Right Problem?
   Organizations implementing strict return-to-office policies may be seeking a straightforward solution to complex issues. However, the evidence suggests that enhancing leadership capabilities could be more impactful on engagement and innovation than mandating in-office work.
6. Key Questions for Leaders Considering RTO Policies
   Leaders should reflect on their objectives: What are they trying to achieve with RTO? If engagement and innovation are the goals, investing in leadership development might be more effective. Success metrics and accountability structures are crucial to gauge the impact of any policy changes.

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