The most consistent failure mode is the acoustic infrastructure gap — the strategy invests in policy, communication, and culture but not in the physical workspace quality that determines whether employees can do their most important work in the office. When hybrid employees experience the open-plan office as acoustically inferior to home for their most demanding tasks, they systematically avoid the office for those tasks — and in-person days generate collaboration and social connection but not the focused productive output that makes real estate investment worthwhile. Closing this gap requires certified enclosed acoustic infrastructure (ISO 23351-1 DS,A ≥ 25 dB, independently tested).