Why culture—not mandates—drives employee engagement among in-person workplaces.

By Bianca Cuffaro

When the pandemic hit, JustFly did what most companies did. It pivoted to remote work, then found its footing in a hybrid model. It was a reasonable (and required) response to an unreasonable moment. But as the dust settled, something became clear. The energy was off. Creativity and collaboration felt forced. The culture that had made JustFly a place people genuinely wanted to show up, was quietly slipping.

So the company made the decision. Full-time, five days a week, in the office. No hybrid. No rotation schedules. No ambiguity.

At first, it wasn’t universally applauded. The initial candidate pool narrowed. There were uncomfortable conversations. Some people left. But what happened next was something that’s hard to manufacture. A team that actually knows each other, a culture that has real texture, and by every meaningful measure, some of the best work the company has ever produced. JustFly just had the best year yet, serving more than 20 million passengers, with bookings accelerating through 2025 and a strong start to 2026.

Successful in-office initiatives have included regular game nights like trivia and bingo, seasonal and holiday events on and offsite, monthly team lunches, and group fitness classes. In 2025, JustFly formalized these efforts by launching a “Social Committee” to organize events and ensure representation from across the company.

The conversation around return to office (RTO) has been framed all wrong. The question was never in the office or remote. It was always, “What kind of environment do people actually do their best work in, and are you willing to build it?”

The Data is Shifting, but Data Isn’t the Point

A recent Ipsos Consumer Tracker found that about one in three employees (32%) now prefer working entirely in an office, up from just one in five (21%) last year. That’s a meaningful shift and signals the resistance to office work is softening. But the numbers don’t tell HR leaders why, and that’s the more interesting question.

People aren’t warming up to the idea of commuting for the sake of commuting. They’re warming up to offices that actually give them something back like mentorship, momentum, the kind of spontaneous collaboration that doesn’t happen on yet another Zoom meeting. When the office becomes a place where real things happen, it stops feeling like a mandate and starts feeling like a resource.

Mandates Aren’t the Problem; the Office Experience is

Companies struggling with RTO aren’t struggling because they asked people to come in. It’s because they asked people to come in with no reason to be glad they did. When an employee sits for an hour during their commute, only to then sit in back-to-back video calls and eat lunch at their desk, the mandate begins to feel hollow or even disrespectful.

Research also backs this up. A study on ScienceDirect found that commutes exceeding 30 minutes increase the odds of remote work preferences. Choosing office locations with reliable transit, ample parking, and proximity to where employees live can minimize commute burdens, support work‑life balance, and make in‑office work feel like a valuable part of the employee experience rather than a chore.

Beyond the commuting logistics, the in-office experience itself has to hold up. That means supporting the team to structure their day intentionally. Keep solo-focused work flexible, while anchoring in-office time to the things that genuinely require proximity like team problem-solving, cross-functional collaborations, mentorship, and informal interactions that build trust over time. It means investing in spaces that are actually worth being in. Not a bank of desks under harsh lighting, but environments with good coffee, gathering places, and room to think out loud together. It means making sure leadership shows up too and are present in ways that signal the office where decisions get made, and careers get developed.

Measuring What Actually Matters

One of the most important shifts a company can make with RTO is to stop measuring attendance and instead measure experience. That will show whether people are energized, productive, and glad to be there.

Regular pulse surveys, candid one-on-ones, and honest conversations about what’s working and what isn’t is how to build an office culture that’s self-correcting. It’s how employees start to feel like the environment is built for them, not forced on them. This distinction matters enormously for retention.

What’s Coming and What it Requires

A ResumeBuilder survey from last year found that many employers plan to increase in-office requirements by 2026, including three in 10 companies that won’t allow for remote work, signaling that structured attendance is likely to become more common. That means the pressure to get this right is going to grow.

The companies that will win talent in this environment aren’t necessarily the ones offering the most flexibility. They’re the ones offering the most intentionality. Candidates increasingly want to know: What does your culture actually feel like day to day? What happens when we’re all in the same room? Is that worth my commute?

At JustFly, the answer has been yes, not because of a policy, but because of what’s been built around it. The culture is richer. The work is stronger. And people who are in the office every day can feel the difference. That’s not a mandate talking. That’s a team.

Bianca Cuffaro is the HR director at JustFly.