Return-to-Office Mandates: How to Lose Your Best Performers

The Nugget

Return-to-office mandates focused on physical presence and monitoring can lead to decreased employee engagement, satisfaction, and performance, especially among high-performing employees. Shifting towards outcome-driven flexibility and trust can enhance productivity and organizational success.

Key quotes

"Mandates and monitoring do not work. It's easy enough for employees to perform to the system by scheduling when their emails go out, keeping their status active online, or buying mouse jigglers."
"Forcing people who've been effective working from home to commute to the office instead is a recipe for grief."
"Employees who felt trusted by their employer reported twice the productivity of those who didn't feel trusted, and they were 30% more likely to put in extra effort at work."
"Flexible work is feminist."
"Employees at high-performance companies were 11 times more likely to say they had senior leaders who trusted them to do their jobs."

RTO mandates often lead to negative consequences such as decreased job satisfaction, employee retention issues, and lower trust, especially among high-performing individuals.
These mandates disproportionately affect women, caregivers, and historically underrepresented groups in the workforce, potentially undermining efforts towards diversity and inclusion.
High performers are particularly at risk of leaving organizations that enforce RTO mandates, as these policies can signal a lack of trust and recognition of their efforts.

Organizations focusing on outcomes and providing flexibility see higher engagement and productivity levels compared to those relying on physical presence and monitoring.
Trust plays a crucial role in employee performance, with employees who feel trusted by their employer demonstrating increased productivity and dedication to their work.
Building a culture of trust and accountability, emphasizing results over monitoring, can lead to a "boom loop" of improved performance and organizational success.

💼 Trust and flexibility drive productivity: Employees who feel trusted by their employers are more productive and engaged.
🌟 Focus on outcomes, not monitoring: Shifting towards outcome-driven flexibility empowers employees to deliver results without the constraints of physical presence.
🚀 Build a boom loop: Prioritize trust, accountability, and clarity on outcomes to create a positive cycle of engagement and performance.
🌸 Flexible work is feminist: Recognize the value of flexible work arrangements in promoting gender equality and supporting caregivers in the workforce.

This summary contains AI-generated information and may have important inaccuracies or omissions.