Remote workers resist Monday office hours, but building 'organizational culture' is key, says executive

Office occupancy is down considerably on Mondays compared to pre-pandemic levels, The Wall Street Journal recently reported. 

But for one Philadelphia employer, working in the office on Mondays twice a month is now a regular occurrence for his staff of 13 employees — something he said is an important part of building a good team culture within his organization.

Jeff Hornstein, executive director of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, appeared on "America Reports" on Friday, June 30, to reveal how he convinced his team to switch from remote work to coming into the office — for at least some of their workdays. 

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He said he wanted regular meetings and team-building, as The Journal also noted — and that "Mondays are the best day" for that.  

Hornstein explained that he hired his "incredible, smart, young, diverse team" during the pandemic — and that they've been "remote for a while." 

And though the organization itself is 115 years old, "this is a completely new staff," he said. 

"My view is that building organizational culture is difficult enough in person," Hornstein said. 

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"But doing it remotely, especially when you have no experience of being together, is particularly difficult." 

Mondays lag behind Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays when it comes to in-office work, The Journal piece detailed. 

Fridays are the lowest in-office days, it also reported. 

A firm that tracks office keycard entries found that the Monday before Memorial Day weekend had 45% lower in-office numbers than did the same day before the pandemic, co-anchor Sandra Smith of "America Reports" noted. 

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Hornstein said that while he was not sure that the specific day of the week was the "hangup" in terms of thoughts about returning to the office, "some of my staff would rather do other days," he said.

"Some people would rather never come in at all." 

Yet for him, "Mondays are just the day to start the work week. Until we no longer start work weeks on Mondays, I’m going to be pretty insistent that Monday is the day" for coming into the office, he added.

Hornstein noted that he runs a "very flexible organization" — with a lot of time off and "a lot of flexibility" given to employees, he said.

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Given that he is 16 years older than the next oldest person on his staff, he said, he's "been in the labor force a little bit longer." 

So "it’s my job to build an organizational culture," he went on. "Some people would rather never come in at all." 

Hornstein also said that he is personally "not into mandates."

"We’re experimenting with what works. We’ll do Mondays for a while, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll pivot," he said.

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As for other employers, Hornstein said that staff people "want to feel that there's a good reason" for them to come into the office after working remotely for the past several years.

Companies and businesses, he said, "need to give folks a good reason that they’re coming in, whatever day it is."

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The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, Hornstein said, is a nonpartisan "think-and-do tank" that "focuses on fostering inclusive and equitable growth."