Company mandates are starting to bring employees back into offices around the country. But some people are having a hard time adjusting to the change and it’s going to take a lot more to get them engaged. In fact, employee engagement in the U.S. has hit an all-time low since the pandemic, with only 30% of workers reporting being engaged as of August 2025.
Fooda’s “What’s Happening in the Workplace Now?” survey found that 41% of companies are working on-site full-time. That’s a 2X increase between 2024 and 2025 and that number is only expected to rise as 2026 goes on.
But people aren’t going into the office because they choose to. The main reason they do? Their company gives them no other choice. 37% of employees in the survey say they show up only because of company policy. And 51% of employers have clear policies requiring on-site attendance.
While this does improve office attendance percentages, you can’t always say the same for other metrics. You might even notice employees disengaging, burning out, and not giving their best when mandates are the only thing bringing them into the office.
So as companies ramp up their return to office (RTO) plans, it’s important to rethink how they plan to get employees engaged and motivated about working on site. It’s less about rigid rules that force workers into the office and more about offering company benefits and perks that draw them in.
In this post, we’ll discuss five practical return to office strategies for better employee engagement.
But first, what’s the reason behind this push toward on-site attendance? If employees love working from home, why are companies rushing to bring them back to the office?
Here are some factors that explain why companies are pushing return to office.
If you’ve worked remotely for an extended period of time, you might feel that it's hard to truly connect and build relationships with coworkers when you only talk via Slack messages or phone calls. Even if you have the occasional team meetings over video call, nothing beats interacting with them face-to-face.
Being physically present leaves more room for casual interactions. Saying a quick “Hello” at the start of the day, discussing last night’s game while you have coffee, running by an idea with a coworker at their desk – you can’t replicate any of this when most of your workforce doesn’t come into the office.
And when interactions aren’t so structured, the conversation flows naturally. So employees can build a stronger, more organic bond with their colleagues that translates into the work they’re doing.
Not to mention the ease of collaborating because you no longer have to wait for hours or days for someone to get back to you. Work flows smoothly because team members can collaborate in real time, share new ideas, and work out solutions together.
Another major factor behind the push for return to office is the control and oversight that leaders have when teams are physically present. Managers can seamlessly monitor workflows and provide feedback in real time, allowing them to address issues before they escalate.
When employees are working remotely, they don’t always have access to secure networks. They’re either using their personal home connection or connecting to a public WiFi when working at cafes and libraries. This leaves more room for security risks like data breaches and cyberattacks that could affect the entire organization.
Working on-site ensures better protection because employees have access to secure networks while companies have more control over data and information handling.
As convenient as it is to work from home - there are a lot of distractions like pets, laundry, or other tasks that can only be done at home, which takes a toll on productivity.
When your teams are in the office, they have minimal distractions and can stay engaged with their tasks and keep up the momentum. Combined with being able to collaborate in real time, productivity and efficiency will increase.
Few things get people to truly anticipate coming into the office. Seeing their work bestie, working on a fun project… But these aren’t always enough to motivate them on a regular basis.
The one thing that consistently drives excitement? Free food. According to the Fooda survey, 80% of employees feel more enthusiastic about work when they get lunch from the company.
And the sentiment is justified because free food in the office saves them hundreds of dollars a month. Owl Labs found that in-office workers spend about $14.25 per day on lunch and $8.46 per day on breakfast/coffee.
When everything is already expensive, not having to spend extra money on food when they come into the office will put money directly back in their pockets and give them a better reason to work on-site.
Costs aside, having easy access to food at work also saves them hours in at home prep time or going off-site to pick up lunch. So even if the food isn’t completely free, being able to enjoy a selection of good food on-site is often enough to draw workers into the office.
In fact, the Fooda survey also found that the two top factors that will improve the office experience were food-related:
That’s why organizations need to design attractive workplace food programs that entice workers to come into work. Whether this means setting up food halls with a diverse range of options or getting individual boxed meals delivered, it solves the lunchtime dilemma for your employees.
Regardless of how you approach this, it’s about taking the guesswork and the mental load out of meal planning. It’s about making sure the draw of the office is stronger than the comfort of working from home.
Here are a few ideas and best practices for a workplace food program that supports your RTO plans:
Long commutes and rising gas prices will have employees choosing to work from home to save time and money. That’s another barrier companies have to address with their return-to-office strategy.
Clever Real Estate found that it costs the average commuter about $8,466 to commute each year. That means workers are spending about 19% of their annual income just to get to and from work. So if given the choice, it won’t always make financial sense to work on-site when they can save money on gas or public transport by working from home.
Remove this barrier, and you’ll have more employees choosing to work in the office voluntarily because they no longer have to worry about the cost of commuting.
Make sure you have a viable commuter support program woven into your RTO plan. Can you offer stipends to cover some of their gas expenses? Parking passes that give them access to lots for free? Pre-loaded metro transit cards to cover their public transport costs?
If you can reduce at least some of their commuting stress, you make it easier for employees to come to the office.
It’s not just a single factor that brings employees into the office, but a combination of multiple factors that make up your overall culture. The morning huddles to catch up over coffee before you start the day, the daily sit-down meals you have with the entire team…it all adds up to an office culture where employees feel connected and engaged.
So an effective RTO strategy is about building a culture that makes employees want to keep coming back. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
The space you create for your employees can be the very thing that makes it inviting to come into work. After all, it’s much easier to focus when you have a dedicated space in a quiet corner of the office. It beats having to move from your makeshift desk to your couch every time someone else in the house needs to use the dining room.
When you create spaces that are inviting, it makes working on site more comfortable and improves their daily experience.
Fooda’s “What’s Happening in the Workplace Now?” survey confirms this. When asked what would improve their office experience, these were among the top five factors:
The “ideal” workspace looks different for every organization (and sometimes for every team or individual). Here are a few ideas to consider:
Most workers today want work to fit into their lives, not the other way around. Enjoying breakfast with the family, taking off early to take their cat to the vet…all without having to stick to a rigid schedule or feel guilty for taking the time they need.
And flexibility - whether it’s in terms of when or where they work - is what helps them balance everything in their own terms. In fact, the Fooda survey found that flexible schedules that account for work-life balance will make the office experience better.
So if your return to office strategy fails to consider this by creating a blanket policy that forces everyone back in 100% of the time, you risk bringing back employees who are stressed and frustrated because they have a hard time juggling everything.
A solution for this looks different for every company and industry. Setting up a policy that lets people take the time they need to organize their work and personal life makes a big difference in the quality of both. It’s all about creating and implementing a system that’s based on the individual needs of your employees.
Fooda’s corporate dining solutions make it easy to build a workplace food program that aligns with your RTO plans.
So whether you’re setting up a full-service cafeteria with rotating and resident restaurants or getting individual boxed meals delivered for lunch, you can build a program that makes employees want to come into the office.
Save employees the trouble of bringing their own meals from home or rushing to get food from outside during lunch.
With Fooda, you can get fresh and authentic flavors from the best local chefs by having Popup restaurants prepare food off site and bring it on site to serve. Or with the Fooda app, you can let employees order their own meals from a selection of local restaurants and arrange for consolidated delivery so everyone can enjoy what they want for lunch together.
When delicious food is accessible and convenient, it takes the mental load out of meal planning. So lunch becomes something they look forward to rather than another task they have to complete.
Having food on site sounds great, right? It 100% is… unless it’s the same old menu with limited options.
If your workplace food program is going to be the biggest draw of your RTO strategy, you need to keep things fresh and exciting. Fooda’s partnership with thousands of local restaurants means you get to bring in a rotating lineup of restaurants serving different cuisines every day.
Ready to build an exciting workplace food program that gets employees into the office? Fooda can help. Contact us today to learn more about implementing the perfect workplace food program.
Start with listening sessions to understand specific concerns. Whether it's commute costs, childcare challenges, or home office investments. Use this feedback to refine your approach, perhaps offering a phased transition or hybrid options. Transparency about the "why" behind RTO decisions and showing genuine flexibility where possible helps reduce resistance.
Track metrics like voluntary office attendance rates (beyond mandated days), employee satisfaction scores, retention rates, and productivity indicators. You can also monitor participation in office perks like food programs and social events. Regular pulse surveys help you understand what's working and what needs adjustment in real-time.
Focus on low-cost, high-impact initiatives like flexible scheduling, which costs nothing but means everything to employees. For food programs, consider starting small with Popup lunches twice a week or partially subsidized meal delivery which have low barriers to entry.
