The question every business leader is asking today is no longer if we will return to the office, but how. With increasing economic pressures, environmental sustainability top of mind, and boards nudging executives to finally set an office policy in stone, companies have turned to a variety of potential solutions. These may include downsizing office space, getting rid of offices altogether, creating hybrid work schedules, or on the other side–even requiring employees to return five days a week. However, as we all know, making these decisions is extremely challenging, as they will make or break the future of any business.
I have spent most of my career in I.T. and systems management tackling challenges like understanding complex systems, how we transition and secure them in the cloud, and solving the cybersecurity skills shortage. As chief security officer and senior vice president of I.T. at Sumo Logic, I’ve not only had the opportunity to build a world-class security and compliance team, but also to serve our 500 global Sumo Logic employees by leading our real estate footprint. Therefore, my new obstacle is to guide how we return this growing, dispersed workforce to the office in a culture- and cost-efficient way.
So, it’s time to return to the office
To avoid a return to the office which is so painful that some employees move or quit, many companies surveyed their employees to get a pulse on their preferences before setting a policy in place. Sure, surveys are an easy way to gather rudimentary data and let employees know their voices are heard. But the way we work, collaborate, and innovate has dramatically changed in just three years. That means the way we make decisions must also change–and it starts with ditching the surveys.
This method of collecting information is often inaccurate because surveys are driven by emotions. Even if a survey is anonymous, people are more likely to lie because they respond with answers they think their company wants to hear rather than their current behavior. Even more, surveys barely scratch the surface of what drives our employees to the office, including transit time, office costs, and much more.
Instead, these decisions should be driven by objective data–and there is plenty of it. Most fast-growing companies have digitally transformed and at least started transitioning to the cloud during the pandemic. As a result, companies have massive new amounts of data at their fingertips. In fact, according to the IDC, the amount of data collected worldwide is expected to more than double from 2022 to 2026. This data can tell us where our employees are and how much they cost, which is not possible with surveys.
What the data says
To avoid getting lost in emotions and creating an office policy that leadership wants to hear rather than what people need, our team at Sumo Logic is examining our real estate data based on a core list of questions focused on our actual office usage and needs. The findings span from high-level percentages to granular data points about specific regions: The people badging into a specific office, how often, the days of the week, which departments, where our employees live and how close they are to the office, overall attendance by office location, and even the actual dollars we’re spending on each employee that comes into the office or not.
These actionable insights are powerful not only because they tell us how our employees are behaving in a hybrid work environment, but that we can also calculate the overall investment we’re making on our leases and carbon footprint. Our leadership can then make better-informed office policies and real estate choices that allow people to return to the office in a way that is accountable, culturally relevant, and environmentally sound.
Answering the combined question around real estate and how people return to the office is going to be one of the hardest decisions companies make this year. To make the right decisions that balance employee preference with the needs of the business, we must break our reliance on old tools and invest in the power of data. That way, we can build workplaces that don’t only focus on productivity but also enable smarter decision-making and collaboration.
George Gerchow is the Chief Security Officer and Senior Vice President of IT at Sumo Logic and the founder of a nonprofit corporation, XFoundation.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
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