AI is exactly why you need RTO and company offsites

First published by Rachel Wells in her LinkedIn newsletter on 29 October 2026. Read the original on LinkedIn.

“I'm sorry, but your request to work from home has been rejected.”

It always worked that way, but in 2020, the excuses finally disappeared. Remote work proved that it actually worked. The office then became an extra cost.

However, shortly thereafter, companies started breaking their promises about a remote-first culture. After the pandemic, employers realized they were losing the personal touch (and the opportunity to micromanage 😉). Then the RTO mandates were introduced.

Gallup data from May 2026 indicates that 52% of employees with the option to work from home follow a hybrid work arrangement, and 26% work fully from home. Stanford researchers say working from home has stabilized, with hybrid arrangements remaining common because they reduce recruitment and retention costs without affecting productivity.

Generative AI then came into the chat (pardon the pun) and once more redesigned the workplace. AI can now record meetings, draft the first proposal, summarize research, and handle repetitive administrative work. A pilot project carried out by Google UK found that employees could save an average of 122 hours a year on administrative tasks by using AI.

Then what becomes of the remaining time? We concentrate on the human experience.

What is a company offsite?

An offsite is a purposeful stretch of face-to-face work away from the normal place of business, aimed at achieving a specific business result, such as aligning leadership, solving a difficult strategic problem, onboarding a rapidly growing team, building trust, or deciding what to prioritize next.

And to achieve these objectives, both the setting and the agenda need to be right.

AI raises the strategic value of in-person time together. When software executes tasks, human judgment and relationship-building become premium.

So I'd encourage you to leave updates in Slack and bring consequential conversations into the room. The strongest organizations use async work for updates and coordination, but reserve face-to-face time for judgment, candor, difficult decisions, shared learning, and relationships. That's the ROI of in-person work when done right.

The real ROI of team retreats

And here’s another thing: Did you know that only 20% of employees are engaged, according to Gallup’s 2026 global research? On the other hand, highly engaged teams are 14% more productive and 23% more profitable.

So this is even more reason to bring your team together in person—even if it’s just quarterly or annually—as part of your employee engagement solution. An offsite isn't a magic wand, but when well-designed, it can create space to improve engagement through clarity, connection, and capability-building.

Which is why, if you are considering the costs of a retreat, you shouldn't just ask, "How much will our company offsite cost?" You must regard pricing as only one element of the picture. Instead, ask, "What is the cost of another quarter's worth of slow decisions, low trust, and a team working in different directions?"

Sensible companies don't just get people back to their desks to make a statement; they arrange to meet on purpose.

One company I highly recommend to design strategic company offsites, founder/leadership retreats, workations, and AI upskilling experiences for distributed teams is Driftawave. They turn the few days your team spends together into the energy your organization runs on for the rest of the year, and, like me, they believe in a working world where flexibility and trust coexist with culture and growth.

They have a couple of free, helpful tools; here are two you can try now:

1. Calculate the potential ROI of your team retreat across fully remote, hybrid, or mostly in-person work models today (it just takes three mins).
2. Use this tool (it takes only two mins) to plan your next company offsite, whether for leaders, managers, team members, or the entire organization.

See you next week!

Rachel