A disproportionate percentage of high-performing employees are likely to consider leaving their jobs in response to return-to-office (RTO) mandates.
Recent research from Gartner HR found that, across a population of 2,080 knowledge workers, an RTO mandate reduced their intent to stay by 8%. The reduction in intent to stay among high-performing workers doubled to 16%.
"High-performing employees are more easily able to pursue opportunities at organizations that offer hybrid or fully remote policies," Caitlin Duffy, a director in the Gartner HR practice, said in a news release. "Losing high performers to attrition costs organizations in terms of productivity, difficulty in backfilling the role, and the overall loss of high-quality talent available to fill critical positions."
The survey found that women (11%) and Millennials (10%) also had a greater reduction in their intent to stay when facing an RTO mandate.
Other research shows that RTO mandates are on the decline, making things even more difficult for companies doing exactly that.
For companies wanting employees to return to the office but wanting to avoid defections by key employees in the process, Gartner HR offered four suggestions:
- Provide a clear reason behind requirements for working on-site.
- Motivate employees to return to the office rather than mandate that they do so.
- Consider policies that focus on in-site attendance days per year, not per week.
- Enable employees to shape the RTO policy.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.
