It is a reality that is upon us. Most leaders expect about half of workers to return. The view of the office is changing from where work is done to where people are seen, collaboration is made and connection is maintained.

I’m really not a disagreeable fellow. Actually, just the opposite: People find me to be engaging and fun.

But I do disagree with people; like the author of an article who suggested ways to distance yourself from emotions while making decisions. Who does that?

Brains are rational and emotional. Decision making is not made by ignoring one over the other, but by paying attention to both.

There is a lot of reasoning and emotions at play when it comes to remote work decisions, return to office options, and hybrid considerations. You have them as leaders. Your employees have them. Their partners and families have them.

I remember reading the book Decisive by the Heath brothers. In it, they outlined a 10/10/10 decision making model: How will I view this decision 10 minutes from now, 10 months from now and 10 years from now. It is a great model to gain perspective on choices in front of us.

It coincides with another point they make. We aren’t limited by either/or choices; we are enlarged by options.

By nature, a CEO and CIO lead forward; also, by nature, you are surrounded by those who manage back. Reasons and emotions are at play in both.

In our CIO Mastermind, we recently helped a leader who was processing his remote work decisions. It is a common concern:

• Around half of IT professionals consider remote and hybrid work to be their biggest challenge.
• Nearly ⅔ report feeling overwhelmed managing remote workers.
• Depending on who you talk to, productivity is up or productivity is down because of remote work.

Complaints from leaders regarding remote work include projects taking longer, training being harder, mentoring being lost, onboarding becoming more complicated, and young leaders not getting developed. Several have said that it is not sustainable.

Or is it?

Admittedly, it is a reality that is upon us. Most leaders expect about half of workers to return. The view of the office is changing from where work is done to where people are seen, collaboration is made and connection is maintained.

I’m not a futurist, but let me foretell: The future office is a worker’s home away from home. It will reflect the function of a person’s home and neighborhood; it is the place they will be with people, meet over coffee and dining, and the place they “get away” from the rest of the stress of their life.

Did any of us see that coming?

One other important consideration: Though worth a treatment of its own, the remote-work debate is the center of attention for recruitment and retention. I will devote my thinking on this to another article, but what matters here is how remote will be viewed in relation to an employee’s wellness.

It used to be that companies focused wellness on exercise or getting outside. Now it is more holistic, and addresses a person’s physical, emotional and lifestyle well-being.

I can make a case that we discovered something in this pandemic: People don’t know how to use time-off to promote their own wellness, and people don’t know how to use flexibility of schedule to be the most productive for themselves and for the company.

So what should you do? What do all the objective reasons for office or remote work tell you, and what do all the emotions cause you to pay closer attention?

Here is a checklist for your decision making. It may not affect the next ten minutes of your company life, but it will fundamentally address the next ten months and ten years.

• We have clearly articulated the rational and emotional reasons as to why we need employees back in the office (at least part of the time).
• We have conducted an assessment of why or why not employees want to return and we have measured those against our own reasons
• We have considered all the options available and we have weighted those against:

• Profitability
• Productivity
• Recruitment and retention advantages
• Affect on Brand
• Alignment with and definition of our culture
• Wellness promotion of our employees
• Our position as a leader in our industry
• Development of staff
• Vehicle for innovation
• Consistency with long-term trends

There is just a lot of conversation going on right now about remote work, retention and the future of work. Some topics are very rational, others emotional, and all of them guesswork.

The key is your context. What will you do that promotes the best interest of your company as it is fueled by employees who know that their best interests have been taken into account?

I had an important decision to make recently. So I drew up a graph:

• Do it: pros
• Do it: cons
• Don’t do it: pros
• Don’t do it: cons

It may seem like I duplicated my thinking, but approaching it this way enlarges thinking. Then I looked at my answers, and I separated the rational from the emotional. Then I stared at the emotional ones to see how much weight they had. The ones that were truly important stayed on the board.

Then I made my decision. Frankly, it was obvious. But I had to do the work.

Use the checklist. Work a graph. Make a decision.

You might find it to be very agreeable to you.