The office doesn’t fix loneliness at work

People often see the return-to-office debate in black-and-white: In-person work fosters connection, while remote work breaks it down. In 2025, 37% of companies required office attendance, up from 17% the year before. Companies like Amazon, JPMorgan, and AT&T have all issued similar mandates. The idea is simple: Bring people back to the office, and connection and engagement will follow. But the facts show something else. MIT Sloan Management Review looked at the data and found that these mandates hurt employee engagement and lead to more people leaving, especially top performers. Eight out o...