Working Well: Returning to the office can disrupt life. Here are some tips to navigate the changes

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NEW YORK (AP) — Jason LaCroix felt proud to work from home, especially as a father of two young children. He needed resilience when his son, then 6, suffered a brain injury and spent 35 days in intensive care.

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LaCroix, a senior systems engineer based in Atlanta, took a leave of absence and then worked from home while managing his son’s care and appointments. But LaCroix was laid off last February from that job, where he had been working remotely for five years. His new position requires him to spend four days a week in one of the company’s offices and commute for three hours a day.

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“I want to be there for my kids,” LaCroix, 44, said. “It’s very important for me to be there for my son, because we almost lost him.”

As 2025 approaches, thousands of workers face an uncomfortable reality: After years of working from home, they must return to the office full-time for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic or find new work.

Employees at Amazon, AT&T and other companies have been called back to their offices five days a week. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to fire federal employees who don’t show up to do their jobs in person.

“People always want flexibility,” said Mark Ma, associate professor of business at the University of Pittsburgh. “I’ve never heard anyone tell me to thank my job because it’s so strict with its schedule.”

Ma looked into what happened when technology and finance companies in the S&P 500 stopped allowing employees to work remotely in recent years. It found that companies experienced high turnover rates after implementing return-to-office mandates, especially among female employees — who often have childcare responsibilities — and high-level executives.

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“Over the years, people have adjusted their lives. They’ve discovered, ‘Oh wow, I can take my kids to school.’ Great. I can take care of my elderly parents while still working,” said Shavon Terrell Camper, a therapist and mental health coach. “Just a taste The taste of working from home… It’s hard to see your life going back to something that would have been unsustainable from the beginning.”

Workers and experts have tips to share on how to handle the changes when your employer calls you back into the office.

Look for flexibility

Employers can waive if their goal is to increase the amount of time employees spend together. Ma suggests an “employee choice” approach that gives teams the power to decide how many days they will work in the office as a group.

If this is not an option, employees can also request that their working hours be adjusted. LaCroix leaves home at 5 a.m. and works in the office until 2 p.m. to cut down on traffic time and allow him to get home when his kids get off the bus after school. The employer requires eight hours in the workplace but is flexible in setting those hours.

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“A lot of people are pushing back against that, and they’re trying to work out scenarios to see what kind of flexibility there is within the mandate,” Terrell-Camper said.

Some come up with alternative solutions that are not approved by upper management. The “coffee badge” is a technique that involves heading into the office, swiping your company ID, grabbing a coffee, and leaving to work from home. Desperate to retain valuable employees, supervisors tried a “silent hybrid” approach, taking their subordinates’ ID badges and passing them “in” and “out” to make it appear they were in the office, Ma said.

It’s best to have an honest conversation with a manager about any personal needs and “ask for forgiveness beforehand, because your family is the most important thing,” says Amy DuFran, CEO of the HR Certification Institute. She said many companies have employee assistance programs that do more than most people realize, such as directing employees to resources that can help them care for parents or children.

Say what you need

Medical conditions can make working on site particularly difficult. Kyle Ankney, a public relations strategist based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has cerebral palsy and needs a nurse to help him change his catheter three times a day. His health insurance will only send a nurse to one location, so working in an office isn’t an option.

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“If that’s not a problem, I can find my way to the office,” he said.

Ankney, who ran his own public relations firm for years, was looking for director-level positions, but a recruiter told him he should consider less senior roles because of his need to work remotely. Instead, he applied to manager-level roles advertised as on-site or hybrid, then contacted him to explain his circumstances and ask if recruiters were open to him working from home.

“Although I don’t usually start out, especially in a professional setting, by saying, ‘I have cerebral palsy and I’m in a wheelchair,’ I find that I almost make myself vulnerable in that way just to see.” “If the opportunity is there for me,” Ankney said.

Weigh your options

Getting a remote job can be competitive. “There will be many people who do not have the luxury of leaving their current jobs if they are asked to return to the office, especially in a market as volatile as we are in now,” Terrell said. – Camper said.

Attorney Holly Kirikati was recently working on-site five days a week at a hospital, commuting about three hours a day and looking for a role that would allow her more time with her family. She received two job offers. One of them was quite far away. The other paid 50% more but it required a long trip. I remembered reading the phrase, “The only people who remember that you worked late are your children.” She chose to work remotely.

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“My primary driver is what is best for my family,” Kirikati said. “My advice is to be honest and transparent about what you want, what you’re looking for, and why.”

Look for bright spots

When faced with the inevitability of returning to the office, look for the positives. Friendships can blossom when colleagues take coffee breaks together or sample new lunch spots. Personal conversations can spark ideas that wouldn’t arise at home.

Employers can ease the transition by organizing activities that create camaraderie. For example, managers can put together a series of conversations about the transition process and ask groups to share what works for them, says Dufrane.

Face-to-face communication allows people to better understand what colleagues are thinking and doing, which helps prevent resentment and can provide useful feedback.

Video director Deborah Ann Desno, who owns Plug-In Inc., a video production company in Chōfu, Japan, says she has worked in many countries where the film industry was male-dominated and it was not uncommon to have female directors like her. She makes it a point to connect with her colleagues in person, which gives her an opportunity to network.

“You can read the air in a different way, and you will find the solution,” Desno said. “When you’re on Zoom and they’re ignoring you, there’s nothing you can do.”

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Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at Workingwell↕ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on health, fitness, diet and mental health, at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well.

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