'Wishful thinking': Expert weighs in on growing office-return mandates

Going back to a full five-day work week is "wishful thinking," according to an expert, who stressed how hybrid arrangements are working for organisations amid growing office-return mandates.

"I really don't think that we're going to go back to that five-day-a-week standard. I think that is wishful thinking," Joanna Lipman, lecturer at Yale University, told CNBC's Squawk Box.

Lipman said she believes that the five-day standard is "outdated" and organisations will be unable to return to this arrangement.

"The major reason is that it is working — the hybrid situation is working," she said. "There's actual research coming out about this."

According to Lipman, a recent paper from economist Nicolas Bloom at Stanford Economics Department revealed that implementing a three-office hybrid arrangement did not see performance suffer.

"What did happen is employees were happier and retention improved," she said.

Lipman also cited another piece of research from the University of Pittsburgh, which found that companies that demanded employees to come back did not see any improvement in terms of financial performance.

"It doesn't improve the stock price or your quarterly earnings," she said.

The lecturer added that she also spoke to a manager at a large organisation who required employees to be there five days and noted that this manager didn't care where employees worked.

"That's why five days a week… those demands currently are not working. I've spoken to people within companies that are required to be there five days a week who say: 'It makes no sense.'"

Office-return mandates

She made the remarks as major organisations, such as Amazon and Dell, are introducing office-return policies after years of allowing employees to work from home.

Amazon's policy has been reportedly criticised by employees, who are allegedly "strongly dissatisfied" with the mandate and according to circulating internal polls.

In fact, a separate survey from Blind revealed that nearly three in four Amazon employees are now looking for a new job because of the mandate.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy previously attributed their office-return mandate to observations that in-office work makes it easier for teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen their culture.

It also makes collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing simpler and more effective, according to the CEO.