12/07/2024

Return-to-office Mandates are Making It Harder for Companies to Hire

A new study found these mandates significantly increase turnover

The debate over return to office (RTO) doesn’t seem to be going away. Many companies have opted for a hybrid model that allows employees to still work from home a couple days a week, while some major employers have introduced strict mandates that require workers to fully return to the office, five days a week. Despite persistent pushback from employees, plenty of companies still seem to be bullish about bringing workers back to the office.

But that doesn’t mean employers have not experienced any fallout from imposing return-to-office mandates. In a new study, which tracked three million LinkedIn profiles, researchers found that RTO mandates across S&P 500 companies significantly increased turnover among tech and finance workers. Those effects were even more pronounced for women and employees who were more senior or highly skilled; RTO mandates had three times the impact on turnover among female employees than it did for male employees.

Experts have long warned that RTO mandates could disproportionately impact women and employees with caregiving responsibilities, along with others in the workforce who benefited from the flexibility of remote work, including neurodivergent employees and those with disabilities. Other research has corroborated that top senior talent in the tech industry—across companies such as Apple, Microsoft and SpaceX—have jumped ship as a result of RTO requirements, finding that, in many cases, they left to work for competitors.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.