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Case Study: Should Some Employees Be Allowed to Work Remotely Even If Others Can’t? An Oklahoma-based energy company grapples with its return-to-office plan. by Mark C. Bolino and Corey Phelps

From the Magazine (January–February 2023) / Reprint R2301X

Anuj Shrestha

Sean Lewis, the CEO of Vallia Energy, stared at the message screen on

his phone and prayed for three little dots.

“DON’T SEND THE BACK-TO-THE-OFFICE MEMO!” he’d written to

Joan Flores, the senior vice president who managed their corporate

space. For weeks he and Joan had been planning a return to the office

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for the 3,200 employees who worked at the oil and gas company’s

headquarters in Oklahoma City. More than two and a half years earlier,

at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, those staff members (around

65% of the workforce) had begun doing their jobs remotely. Though

some had trickled back into the office on a voluntary basis, Sean,

unlike his competitors, had still not mandated that everyone return.

Now, with vaccines and therapeutics widely available, it felt like the

right time to reassemble the HQ personnel. They’d been productive

during the pandemic, but Sean worried that Vallia was missing out on

collaboration and, as a result, innovation.1

He was also concerned about the brewing discontent of Vallia’s

roughnecks—the workers who labored on the drilling rigs and in the

oil fields and who had been on-site all along. Many were disdainful of

the “corporate suits” in the main office. Most had been vaccinated, but

some believed that the severity of the pandemic had been exaggerated,

and they didn’t understand why the office staff had stayed remote for so

long. They were beginning to grumble about what they perceived to be

a double standard: They were often offshore or in the field for weeks at

a time, while their colleagues had the luxury of being home with their

families.

Sean and Joan had never expected working arrangements to go back

to a prepandemic “normal.” But they wanted to come up with a way to

balance work flexibility with in-office collaboration. After a couple of

false starts, they’d settled on a hybrid solution: requiring all employees

to return to the office at least four days a week, while allowing people to

apply for exemptions.

Throughout the process, Joan had been good-humored and patient,

but Sean wasn’t sure how she’d react to this last-minute about-face. He

breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her reply: “Sure, Sean. The memo

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was due to go out at 10 AM tomorrow. I will cancel. Let’s discuss in the

morning?” Sean sent a thumbs-up emoji, but his heart sank. He felt like

he was back to square one.

Rethinking the Plan

“What happened?” Joan asked when she and Sean met by the food

trucks at Scissortail Park.

“Jim emailed me,” Sean replied, referring to Jim Bank, the head of

human resources. “He noticed that someone recently posted a link in

the company wiki to a survey question: Assume there’s a back-to-the-

office mandate. What do you do? People could choose from three possible

responses: (1) I don’t have time for this survey because I’m working on

updating my résumé; (2) I already have another job lined up for after

bonuses are paid out; and (3) I’m moving to Hawaii to surf.”

“Come on, Sean, that doesn’t mean anything,” Joan replied. “It’s just a

joke!”

“Maybe,” Sean said. “But it got me thinking. The labor market has never

been tighter, and many people now love working from home. What if

they’d rather quit than accept the new policy?2 We can’t afford that

risk. I’m trying to bring Vallia into the 21st century by making us digital

and AI-driven and by diversifying beyond fossil fuels. That could all be

derailed if we lose our best people and can’t recruit others.”

“We’ve considered other approaches for a return to HQ,” Joan reminded

him.3 When she and Sean had first started mapping out a plan, they’d

envisioned requiring everyone to be in the office two or three days a

week. But the company had reduced its real-estate footprint early in

the pandemic, renting out a wing of its building to a medical-testing

start-up. To accommodate Vallia’s returning employees in the space

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that remained available, Joan had proposed creating a “hot desk” or

hoteling system whereby employees could reserve desks when they

needed them. That idea had sparked immediate pushback: Many people

wanted a more permanent workspace.

Joan had then suggested giving staffers dedicated but shared desks or

offices and creating an online tool so that everyone could see which

colleagues were going to be on-site on a given day. But some employees

objected to sharing their workspaces. In fact, several department heads

had told Sean that if working from home a few days a week meant

losing their private offices, they’d rather come in every day. People

had also pointed out that Vallia would lose the benefits of spontaneous

collaboration without a common schedule for everyone.

With those concerns in mind, Sean and Joan had shifted course again.

They’d managed to end the leasing arrangement with their tenant and

planned to bring all employees back four days a week. Both of them had

been feeling confident about the decision—until Sean saw the pseudo

survey.

“We aren’t going to please everyone,” Joan said. “It’s legit to worry

about folks resigning because we pull them back in. But we also have

to consider whether keeping employees remote—particularly new hires

and young staff—will leave them withering on the vine.”4

Sean prided himself on being in touch with his workers, especially

the next generation. For years business experts had been advising the

energy sector to prepare for “the great crew change” that would result

from an impending wave of retirements. To appeal to younger workers,

especially those with engineering and other technical skills in high

demand, oil companies were trying to shed the reputation of being old-

school and part of a “dirty” industry. At Vallia, Sean was emphasizing

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the firm’s digital transformation and its efforts to reduce carbon and

methane emissions and eliminate flaring, a technique blamed for air

pollution and methane leakage at small drill sites. Under his leadership,

the company also touted its commitment to diversifying its workforce

and supporting inclusion and equity programs in the community.

“I mean,” Joan continued, “what will happen over time if we’re never

physically together? Trust, teamwork, knowledge transfer, a sense of

belonging—these are things I worry about losing.”

“I’m not saying never,” Sean responded. “I’m just saying not yet. We

don’t have to rush this.”

The pair sat in silence for a beat before Joan spoke again.

“I’m curious. What was the most popular survey answer?”

“Surf’s up,” Sean said, smiling wanly.

External Pressure

In his office later, Sean fielded a call from Dean Johnson, the head of the

local chamber of commerce.

“Dean, I had a feeling you might reach out.”

“Hi, Sean. You sound well. Which surprises me, as I heard that you’ve

lost your mind and decided to cancel Vallia’s return to headquarters.”

“Not cancel,” Sean said, chuckling. “Postpone.”

“Well, you know how disappointed I am, speaking as the voice of the

OKC business community,” Dean replied. “You’re an anchor employer

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here, and your people are the primary customers for dozens of small

businesses.”5

“I know that, Dean.” Vallia’s presence had helped the once-stagnating

metropolis become one of the 25 largest cities in the country. “But I

have to think about the long-term sustainability of my workforce,” Sean

continued. “It won’t do anyone any good if all my staffers quit and take

the 10 grand to move to Tulsa.” He was referring to a cash incentive

offered by the nearby city to lure remote workers to relocate there.

“I get it, but all of us at the chamber and City Hall—we’re not sure

OKC can take the hit if your offices stay empty.” Both men were well

aware of the recent Wall Street Journal story indicating that remote

work had become a credit risk for many cities because of lower tax bases

in their downtown cores. “Your community needs you to bring your

people back.”6

More Opinions

The next day, Sean gathered his senior leaders for a virtual meeting

and told them he was considering continuing with work-from-anywhere

for at least the next quarter. He acknowledged everyone’s desire for

certainty about a return-to-office plan but explained that he’d rather

wait and be right than rush and be wrong. A flurry of raised-hand icons

appeared on his screen.

“We’re still paying off loans on our building, and paying to keep it

ready,” said Jake Brown, the head of accounting. “We should at least try

to get more value out of it. Maybe we should keep leasing space to the

medical-testing company, or rent out areas for events or conferences?”

“My priority right now is our people,” Sean said. “But if there’s a way

to get some revenue from the empty office without turning it over to

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another firm, and while retaining control of when we return to work, I’m

all ears.”

Janet Stritikus, who led the back-office administrative roles, shared

another idea: “Many people on my team have worked remotely for a

long time, but we come together each quarter for training, bonding,

and sharing of best practices. Why not let managers have mandatory

in-office days geared toward projects that require collaboration?”

“Great thinking,” Sean said. “That could be a good first step.”

Bill French, the head of geoscience, spoke next: “We’re trying to bolster

our workforce and recruit a new generation. That requires building a

new culture. But how can we do that when no one knows each other?”7

“That’s exactly why I’m torn,” Sean replied. “We do need to make sure

that something bonds us together. But new hires don’t want to be forced

into the office.”

“Coddling them doesn’t sit well with my field crews,” interjected Ted

Petersen, the head of the oil-field and offshore workers. “They resent the

hardships they deal with while the office staff gets to work from home.”

“Please remember that this isn’t permanent,” Sean replied. “And short-

term, perhaps we can stretch the budget to add more contractors. That

would allow some flexibility for our full-timers so that things feel more

fair.”

“Fine, but we can’t exist in limbo forever,” Ted said, sounding

exasperated. “We may not be sure what’s right, but at some point we

need to make the tough decisions.”

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Sensing rising tension, Sean decided to end the meeting. “Joan and

I will get to work and settle on the plan soon,” he said. As he was

signing off, he noticed that Joan had texted him a worried-face emoji.

“No kidding,” he replied.

Question: How should Vallia proceed with plans for in-office and

remote work?

Case Study Classroom Notes

1. A 2021–2022 Stanford study of a multinational corporation found that when employees worked from home two days a week, quit rates dropped by 35% and absences by 12%. However, a 2020 study of more than 61,000 Microsoft employees found that remote workers became more siloed.

2. In a 2021 global survey by ADP Research Institute, 64% of workers said they’d consider looking for a new job if they were required to return to the office full-time.

3. Could an employer launch a pilot or do A/B testing before rolling out a companywide return-to-work program? What are the risks and benefits of such experimentation?

4. A 2020 PwC survey found that workers with less than five years of experience are especially eager to be in the office and especially likely to report feeling less productive while working remotely.

5. Before the pandemic, according to a survey led by the University of Chicago, individual workers in some parts of the U.S. spent $12,000 to $15,000 a year on food, shopping, and entertainment near their jobs.

6. What obligation do companies have to contribute to and protect their local communities? How should Vallia prioritize its many stakeholders?

7. Is there a critical mass of employees necessary to foster a corporate culture? What practices and tools can organizations use to create shared norms and values when employees are not colocated?

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HBR’s fictionalized case studies present problems faced by leaders in real companies and offer solutions from experts. This one is based on a case taught at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business.

A version of this article appeared in the January–February 2023 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Mark C. Bolino is the David L. Boren Professor and the Michael F. Price Chair in International Business at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business. His research focuses on understanding how an organization can inspire its employees to go the extra mile without compromising their personal well-being.

CP Corey Phelps is the dean, the Fred E. Brown Chair of Business, and a professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business. His research explores how organizations innovate, grow, and adapt to changing competitive conditions.

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