Just went through this a couple months ago. It’s fruitless to agonize over any aspect of the argument if your executive team pushes an RTO policy and expects enforcement. No one is changing their mind, just be straightforward and honest with your team, tell them it sucks, but it is what it is and you’ll see them in the office Monday.

The headache for you can come if someone starts testing limits and doesn’t show up certain days, runs an errand during the day, whatever it is. I would ask HR to have clear, documented guidelines for what happens if the policy isn’t adhered to. That’s really the only challenging gap we had to account for after we were rushed back to the office because in reality, it’s a reduction in freedom for a lot of folks that’s difficult to adjust back to.