Return to office
Subject in Management
Return to office has come up in 2 episodes across 2 podcasts in TMT, including Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant. 3 people have made recorded remarks about it.
What people said
Adam GrantAmerican organizational psychologist, Wharton professor, and author
Grant cites a 2024 Ding and Ma paper finding return-to-office mandates failed to improve financial performance while reducing satisfaction and work-life balance.
“they fail to improve firm financial performance metrics, but they reduce satisfaction and work-life balance”
The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 16:56
Grant says he favors three or four in-office days for relationships, culture, and mission but considers five-day mandates arbitrary.
“I don't think we need to impose that five days a week”
The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 15:29
Peter SagalHost of NPR's news quiz Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Sagal reported that more companies are offering free lunch to bring workers back to the office.
“More and more companies have hit upon the solution at long last to bring workers back to the office. Free lunch”
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!: Reflecting Pools and Construction Zones (Jun 27, 2026) · Listen from 40:21
Brené BrownAmerican research professor and author on vulnerability, shame, and courage
Brown argues leaders who mandate office attendance must explain the underlying mental model or risk losing top talent.
“If you believe it enough to mandate it, then you should have the discipline to get under the mental model and walk people through it”
The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 26:03
Coverage over time
Podcasts
- Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! · 1 episode
- The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant · 1 episode
Episodes
Reflecting Pools and Construction ZonesWait Wait... Don't Tell Me! · Jun 27, 2026 · 48 min
Peter Sagal and Alzo Slade quiz panelists Emmy Blotnick, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and Gianmarco Soresi on the week's news, and Pavement's Stephen Malkmus plays Not My Job.
What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets WrongThe Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant · Apr 30, 2026 · 50 min
Brené Brown and Adam Grant debate return-to-office policies, apply a systems-thinking iceberg to leaders' mental models, and answer listener questions on birth order and editing.