The Shredded Workplace Social Contract

The pandemic didn’t just disrupt where we work, it has rewritten the unspoken social contract between employers and employees. For decades, the social contract of work was relatively stable: employees came to the office, worked the allotted hours and in return received pay, progression and a sense of belonging. The office wasn’t just a building, it was the symbolic corporate centre of loyalty, culture and career growth.

That contract has been shredded.

Working from home during the pandemic proved something many leaders might be reluctant to admit: that productivity isn’t tethered to a desk, visibility isn’t the same as contribution and trust matters more than presence. Once people experienced this freedom, with greater autonomy to better integrate work with life, no commuting and the ability to structure their days around energy rather than presenteeism, they were less willing to go back to the old regime.

Yet we might still think that the office is the answer. We redesign workspaces, add collaborative lounges, install better coffee machines or even baristas and hope that these perks will coax employees back. And they might temporarily, but the premise is misplaced. The reluctance to return in the long run isn’t about the comfort of chairs or the aesthetics of the collaboration space. It’s about a broken contract.

Employees today are asking: What do I gain by being physically present? Is it worth sacrificing flexibility, family or personal time, the ability to structure my day for me and the cost of the commute, to be in an office building? If the answer is “because that’s how it used to be” or “because we have invested in a great space” the logic is at risk of falling flat.

What people are searching for now isn’t just a shinier space, but rather a fairer approach. People are looking for greater autonomy and the trust to deliver and for work that fits with life, not the other way around. We do want connection and collaboration, but on terms that recognise the realities of our new working world.

This means we need to recalibrate our thinking that the office is the centre of gravity and start treating trust, flexibility and purpose as the new anchors of work. Building organisational culture and engagement will struggle with the view that if we simply create a great space, people will come. The future of work will belong to those organisations willing to renegotiate the social contract in a way that feels balanced, respectful and where attendance is less about mandating and more about earning participation.

The office still has a vital role to play, but perhaps less as a magnet pulling people back against their will. Its value lies in being a hub for moments that matter: collaboration, creativity, mentorship and connection.