India, Aug. 5 -- Companies are struggling with return-to-office because they are treating it as an HR policy question. The offices they are asking people to return to were not designed for the work people do anymore. Until that changes, no policy will work.

The return-to-office narrative has been locked in the wrong frame for two years. Companies set a policy. Three days a week. Four days a week. All hands in on Tuesday. The policy runs into resistance from employees who have gotten used to working remotely. HR tries to enforce it. The resistance grows. The company retreats or doubles down. The real question never gets asked, which is whether the office itself has been designed to justify coming back to it.

This is a design problem wear...