‘Hushed hybrid’: Even as RTO mandates grow, workers still aren’t fully showing up to the office—a sign managers are too burnt out to enforce policies

Here’s the punchline: Fortune says “hushed hybrid” is sticking around because many managers are too stretched (and burned out) to police stricter RTO rules. Policies look tough, but real-world enforcement is uneven—so employees quietly keep a day or two at home and the work still gets done.

Beyond Brian Elliott’s Flex Index lens on policy vs. practice, Fortune also brings in Glassdoor’s Daniel Zhao, who has noted that companies rarely come down hard on top performers over RTO—another reason compliance stays squishy. In other words: productivity and retention often trump badge-swipe purity.

Why read it: it’s a crisp reality check for leaders. If you want results, don’t burn out managers enforcing head-count-by-turnstile—clarify outcomes, set team norms, and align office time to moments that matter. This piece shows the gap between mandates and behavior—and how to close it without losing talent.

Not only are managers unmotivated to enforce the mandates, they’re also more likely to become resentful of the broader RTO push.

“It’s no wonder that managers themselves are often not only burnt out, but the ones that are the most frustrated by this entire conversation,” Elliott said.