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Return-to-office mandates have been unpopular among all kinds of employees, whether they work for the private sector or federal government. Despite vocal discontent, companies have generally pressed on with these policiesoften tasking human resources and people teams with implementing and enforcing them. It turns out many of the HR leaders who seemingly promote these policies have their misgivings, according to a report from people management platform Leapsome. In a survey of about 1,000 leaderswho oversee HR teams in the U.S. and a handful of European countriesmore than half said they were pressured by their companys CEO to enforce RTO policies that required workers to be in the office for a set number of days. Those pressures were even greater among American companies, with 63% of HR leaders in the U.S. reporting that their CEOs had pushed them to embrace return-to-office mandates. And yet, an overwhelming majority of those leaders (81%) believe strict RTO policies are ineffective. In fact, 42% of them say flexibility is the most important element of enabling collaboration. That’s contrary to what many CEOs have preached as they brought employees back into the office. Most of the HR leaders surveyed also claim that allowing people to work where they want improves overall productivity. Employee resistance to RTO If anything, RTO policies can actually damage trust among workers, according to the report, and make it more difficult for employers to recruit new employees successfullysomething HR leaders already seem to be experiencing. Sixty percent of them say that employees are resisting RTO mandates. Across private companies and federal agencies, stringent policies that mandate five days a week in the office have led employees to quit or look for new jobs. The Pew Research Center has found that nearly half of remote workers would leave their jobs if they could no longer work from home. Hundreds of Amazon workers who were surveyed in late 2024 said they were looking for other opportunities or planned to quit this year, in anticipation of the company’s new policy taking effect. And over the past two months, about 75,000 federal workers have accepted deferred resignation offers, partly driven by Trump eliminating remote work arrangements for all employees. Challenges of RTO implementation As some legal experts have pointed out, these RTO policies can also lead companies to inadvertently discriminate against certain employees, especially if mandates are enforced inconsistently; top performers who are considered more valuable may get more leeway when it comes to office attendance. The push to get employees back in the office also has an outsize impact on the people who benefited most from flexible working arrangements, from disabled workers to caregivers. It seems many HR leaders are acutely aware of this issue, not to mention what the ripple effects might be on workplace culture. More than half of the leaders surveyed said RTO mandates are detrimental for disabled workers and that those policies were at odds with company efforts to promote inclusion. The impact of the DEI backlash As conservative politicians and right-wing activists threaten diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the workforce, about a third of HR leaders are also concerned about broader changes that could undermine DEI work, including budget cuts. The HR leaders who were surveyed argue that when workers see their employers cutting back on DEI programs, it can compromise performance and satisfaction and drive employees out of the company. (In a recent report from the research insights firm Gravity Research, many companies expressed concerns over how their employees would react to DEI cuts and that they felt pressured to make internal statements reaffirming their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.) Corporate leaders may have their reasons for reevaluating their DEI efforts and embracing RTO mandatesbut there can be real costs to making those changes.
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E-Commerce
On Wednesday, a week after imposing sweeping reciprocal tariffs, President Trump announced a 90-day pause for dozens of countries, and a raise to 125% on levies to China. Last week’s “Liberation Day” announcement revealed a 10% global base tariff on all countries, including uninhabited territories, in addition to reciprocal tariffs for countries such as China, India, and Vietnam. Stock markets across the globe plunged for several days, and Wall Street banks increased recession odds, including JPMorgan raising its estimate to a 60% chance. Trump’s decision to increase levies on China comes after the second-largest economy responded with an 84% tariff on U.S. goods. Citing that more than 75 countries are engaging in trade negotiations with the U.S., Trump announced via social media that in addition to the pause on tariffs, there will be a reduced reciprocal tariff of 10% during the pause period. At the time of publishing, U.S. markets reacted positively, with Dow Jones, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 increasing by 5.5%, 7.08%, and 5.7% respectively.
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E-Commerce
Lego opened a $1 billion factory in Vietnam on Wednesday that it says will make toys without adding planet-warming gas to the atmosphere by relying entirely on clean energy. The factory in the industrial area of Binh Duong, close to Ho Chi Minh City, is the first in Vietnam that aims to run entirely on clean energy. Lego says it will do that by early 2026. It’s the Danish company’s sixth worldwide and its second in Asia. It will use high-tech equipment to produce colorful Lego bricks for Southeast Asias growing markets. We just want to make sure that the planet that the children inherit when they grow up needs to be a planet that is still there. That is functional, Lego CEO Niels Christiansen told The Associated Press. The factory is an important factor in Lego’s quest to stop adding greenhouse gases by 2050. It has a shorter-term target of reducing emissions by 37% by 2032. The privately held group makes its bricks out of oil-based plastic and says it has invested more than $1.2 billion in a search for more sustainable alternatives. But those efforts have not always been successful. Fast-industrializing Vietnam also aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, so it needs more of its factories to use clean energy. The country hopes the plants 12,400 solar panels and energy storage system will help set a precedent for more sustainable manufacturing. Locating the Lego factories in regions they supply has also helped insulate them from the tariffs ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump, Christiansen said. Right now, I am probably more observant of what does this mean to growth in the world? Do we see consumer sentiment changing in parts of the world or not, and what would that potentially mean? he said. The blocks are made from differently colored plastic grains that are melted at high temperatures and then fed into metal molds. The highly-automated factory uses robots for making the bricks to a tenth of a hair’s width precision and then packaging them. It eventually will employ thousands of mostly skilled workers to operate these machines. Some of them have already begun work after being trained in in Lego’s factory in eastern China. Manufacturing makes up a fifth of Vietnam’s GDP and consumes half the energy it uses. There are plans to phase out its coal power plants by 2040. The Lego factory, which spans 62 soccer fields, sets the blueprint for making large, power-guzzling factories sustainable while remaining profitable, said Mimi Vu, a founder of the consultancy Raise Partners in Ho Chi Minh City. Sometimes it takes a big company, like Lego, to take those risks. To show that we can do it And we can be profitable, she said. The factory will benefit from a new 2024 rule known as a direct power purchase agreement or DPPA, which allows big foreign companies to buy clean energy directly from solar and wind power producers and to meet their clean energy requirements. The factory will be linked to an adjacent energy center where electricity can be stored in large batteries. So even if the sun is only shining during the day, we store the energy and can use it all over. That will cover by far the majority of the consumption of the factory, added Christiansen, The remaining 10%-20% of the factory’s energy needs will be met through agreements with other clean energy producers. Lego and Vietnam, we are having the same aspirations. We both want to be green, to play our part in the climate. And I think this with the solar and battery and DPPA, it is showcasing that it can be done, Jesper Hassellund Mikkelsen, Senior Vice President Asia Operations at the LEGO Group told The AP. The company will also open a distribution center in Vietnam’s southern Dong Nai province to help serve markets in Australia and other Asian countries where it sees an opportunity for growth. The five buildings in the factory meet high energy efficiency standards. Lego also has planted 50,000 trees twice the number of the trees it cut to clear land for the factory. It’s the first Lego factory to replace single-use plastic bags with paper bags for packaging. Lego’s founder, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, started the company as a wooden toy maker before patenting the iconic plastic bricks in 1958. It is still is seeking a way to make its plastic bricks more environmentally friendly. Christiansen said Lego bricks last decades and could be reused, though the ultimately ambition is to make them out of more renewable materials. He said that a third of the materials used in Lego bricks made last year were from renewable and recycled sources. But that’s more expensive than plastic made out of fossil fuels. Its not inexpensive at this point in time, but we believe if we … lean into that, we help create a supply chain for the type of plastic materials that are not based on fossil fuel, he said. Aniruddha Ghosal, Associated Press The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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E-Commerce
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