The Work Model Reckoning: Why Talent Strategy Needs a Rethink

Out of all of the working models, the big return to office debate has definitely been the most headline-grabbing — and that’s in part due to who’s issuing the marching orders, and how they’re doing it.

Big names like Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and X (formerly Twitter) were among some of the first to issue RTO mandates — with varying degrees of success.  Goldman’s CEO called remote work an “aberration.” Meanwhile 73% of Amazon workers considered quitting following their RTO mandate in 2024. 

When done well, RTO can have a positive impact on team collaboration and team productivity. But the backlash raises important questions for in-office talent teams: How do you attract candidates and navigate challenging conversations when RTO is hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons?

“Strict mandates can backfire when poorly communicated,” explained Ranya Nehmeh, senior HR strategist and co-author of In Praise of the Office: The Limits to Hybrid and Remote Work. “A 2024 Unispace global study found that 42% of companies with rigid RTO policies saw increased employee turnover within six months of implementation. The difference lies in how the message is framed, [and] whether it’s about purpose and culture or simply policy compliance.”

What talent teams need to do now: Plan proactively and reframe messaging around purpose, not mandates.

If your organization is in-office, or plans are in motion to do so, your candidate messaging and talent strategy need to work harder to show why being in-person matters — rather than telling people it’s required.

“The companies that navigate RTO shifts most effectively are those that explain the why,” Nehmeh said. “When leaders talk about coming together for collaboration, learning, or creativity, the discussion becomes about shared value rather than control. That’s the difference between a policy conversation and a culture conversation.”

For messaging and outreach, this starts with getting specific about what candidates will actually gain from their office presence. Vague claims about how great your culture is, or your collaboration rituals won’t cut it when candidates many candidates are used to working from wherever suits them.

The same goes for surface-level perks like in-office yoga or a fruit basket. Instead, point to concrete examples and team case studies — including how teams use office space for problem-solving, or how junior engineers can shadow senior engineers.

The most important thing, says Nehmeh, is transparency — even if things are in flux.

“Start with honesty, even when the picture isn’t final,” she says. “Candidates don’t expect certainty, but they do expect candor. If working models are still being reviewed, saying so directly builds far more trust than vague promises. A 2024 Glassdoor survey found that 86% of job seekers say they’re more likely to trust a company that communicates openly about change, even when details are still being decided.

“Transparency doesn’t mean revealing every internal debate,” she adds. “It means being clear about guiding principles. A simple statement like ‘We’re a collaborative organization, and we’re refining how we bring that to life’ tells candidates that the company has direction and self-awareness, even as it evolves.”

On a broader scale, talent teams will need to consider how they will plan to backfill gaps in the team if RTO is sparking a wave of resignations. This will involve some succession and scenario planning — mapping the critical “lights-on” roles while expanding passive outreach to assemble a pool of potential candidates should a role open up. 

Hybrid should feel like the perfect bridge for organizations who aren’t quite ready to go fully remote or give up their face-time for collaboration and connection purposes. And for many organizations globally, it’s now become the default.

2025 data from Gallup suggests that hybrid working is the top choice for 51% of organizations, compared to 28% who are fully remote. And when done well, hybrid working has been proven to offer some compelling benefits, including improved work-life balance, productivity, talent attraction and retention. 

But here’s the hitch: Few organizations are actually doing it well — nor have they intentionally designed for it beyond setting out their in-office days in the calendar.

And that’s where the challenge pops up for talent teams. Because although increased flexibility is an easy sell, it’s the hardest model to communicate clearly in discussions with candidates.

“Hybrid work was designed to strike a balance, offering flexibility while maintaining a sense of connection,” Nehmeh says. “In practice, however, it only works well when there is structure and clear coordination. When employees choose different days to come into the office, the result is often fragmented collaboration and missed opportunities for spontaneous exchange. Structured hybrid systems tend to support belonging and mentorship while maintaining some flexibility, which helps with both attraction and retention.”

What talent teams need to do now: Design candidate comms for clarity and equity.

Employees clearly value flexibility and clarity. But TA teams own how that is communicated across candidate communications, employer branding, and top-of-funnel messaging.

Providing clarity over how your hybrid structure works is critical — particularly if not everyone is the same contract, or working to a hybrid model. But much like RTO, beyond the ‘how’, it’s critical to explain the ‘why’ as part of your messaging. 

But tailoring this messaging — particularly across some key roles where flexibility is preferred — can help give you a competitive advantage. 

“We’re seeing a real shift in how flexibility is positioned within the employee value proposition,” says Katie Killinger, Head of People Operations at CV-Library. “We’ve historically offered a hybrid model for our UK teams and full remote working for our tech team. This approach has allowed us to attract strong talent from a wide geographic pool — particularly in specialist areas like software development, where flexibility remains a key differentiator.

“From a talent and employer brand perspective, the balance between flexibility and connection is becoming a central theme,” Killinger says. “Candidates still value autonomy, but they also want clarity — how hybrid works in practice, how often teams meet, and how culture is maintained across locations.”

But as the hybrid model matures, keeping your messaging intentional and current is also critical, says Killinger.

“We used to talk about flexibility mainly in terms of where you work,” she notes. “But as hybrid has matured, it’s become more about how you work. So, we’ve made our roles clearer about what flexibility looks like in each team. That transparency has helped us attract candidates who align with our model and reduced mismatched expectations later on. We’re also framing flexibility as part of a bigger conversation about culture and connection — it’s not just a perk, but a key part of how we enable people to do their best work.”

When so many organizations have the option to hire from anywhere, being a remote company is no longer the competitive advantage it once was for talent strategy. 

And that’s exactly what Buffer’s chief of staff Carolyn Kopprasch found out once the pandemic was over, and Buffer’s remote-first policy was no longer a rare unicorn.

“We’re a fully remote team, and we’re still seeing really high levels of interest in remote work — applications are higher than ever,” she says. “This used to be a competitive advantage. Then, when COVID happened and everyone went remote, it wasn’t anymore. Our challenge is that without guardrails on location, we get so many applications. Finding qualified candidates still isn’t easy for some roles.”

In a level global playing field for talent, remote work continues to be popular — but it’s throwing up unforeseen volume challenges for talent acquisition teams. This shift, Kopprasch says, has only been amplified by the rise of AI, which has enabled candidates to apply more quickly — and at higher volume — than ever before.

But that’s not the only problem. Because when there are plenty of fish in the remote sea, nobody gets to use the working model as a talent attraction tactic. Candidates are becoming more discerning in comparing how companies work, and looking for clearer signals on culture, collaboration, and growth. And that is where teams need to focus — to home in on what makes their organization special to their target candidate.

What talent teams need to do now: Dial in on your real competitive advantage beyond just being remote.

When going remote is no longer a competitive advantage, your employer branding needs to work harder to show candidates what’s in it for them beyond just working from the couch. 

Not knowing what an organization is like to work for is the number one obstacle candidates report when looking for a new role. And for Kopprasch, the foundations of a successful remote-first talent strategy reside in how well the organization is able to articulate its culture. We don’t mean the free lunch Friday or a foosball table — we mean how you’re able to show people exactly what life is like at your organization through your actions and branding.

Case in point: Buffer uses its values and transparency as the red thread for all its hiring efforts — linking to its transparency dashboard and compensation philosophy in hiring posts. Its Open Culture blog reflects on new open roles and how these values are lived through life at Buffer.