Typically, return-to-office mandates are determined by a company’s executive team and its human resources department. For corporate workers wondering if unionization might give them more leverage with those decision-makers, Harvard labor law professor Benjamin Sachs says a contract that protects them can be particularly useful when directives keep shifting. “Collective bargaining is supple, flexible and responsive,” he said, explaining that before employers make major policy changes in a unionized workplace, they are required to negotiate over how it will impact members of the staff bargaining unit.

Mandatory workplace vaccinations, one of many tools to keep workers safe