28/05/2026
South African employers keep telling us that return-to-office is about culture and productivity. I'd like to believe that. But the evidence keeps telling a different story.
The mandates came quickly and, in many cases, without meaningful consultation. The Labour Court had to remind an employer this year that ordering someone back to the office abruptly and without a substantiated reason is unreasonable, regardless of whether it's technically lawful.
Commercial property owners are quietly celebrating increased parking demand for the first time since 2020. And now, with fuel prices surging, some of those same employers are suddenly reconsidering whether the office is actually essential after all.
Funny how that works.
If return-to-office were genuinely about culture, the petrol price wouldn't change the calculation. If it were genuinely about productivity, we'd have seen the data by now. And if it were genuinely about collaboration, the mandate wouldn't have arrived in an email.
I've spent years working with organisations across South Africa. When leaders make decisions without consultation, reverse them under external pressure, and can't articulate the reasoning beyond "we just need people back", that is not a workplace strategy. That is a trust deficit wearing a productivity argument as a disguise.
The real question South African employers are avoiding is the uncomfortable one: Did we actually build a culture worth coming back to?
Because if the answer is yes, you don't need a mandate. People find their way to places where they feel valued, developed, and led well.
And if the answer is no, no desk policy in the world is going to fix that.
