Pretty much every company—save your Airbnbs and Atlassians—remains in the weeds of the remote work power struggle. None have successfully pulled off a return-to-office mandate that everyone is happy with. That’s not for lack of trying; in an effort to lure people back, companies have offered free lunch, on-site childcare, personal assistants, and some have even resorted to bribes.
But most workers remain resolute: They don’t want to come in every day. And besides, none of the small fixes address the core issue: Managing a distributed workforce is just really hard. What’s a boss to do? Despite the three years of trial and error, the solution remains unknown, David Ricks, chairman and CEO of pharma giant Eli Lilly told Fortune CEO Alan Murray during a virtual roundtable held by Fortune Media and BCG on Thursday.
