Forced Return to Office == Lose your Best Talent

I saw this on one of my social feeds today:

This isn’t the first story like this I’ve read.

• Amazon’s edict | Employers losing talent to competitors after RTO mandates, survey reveals
• 8 in 10 Employers Have Lost Talent to RTO Policies 
• Companies issuing RTO mandates “lose their best talent”: Study

I don’t understand the drive to force employees to Return to Office (RTO). I don’t think most executives making the call to RTO even know why they are doing it. Maybe it’s because President Elon wants to sell more cars? He forced RTO at his companies. Most exwecutives wish they could be like Elon, so they emulate him. Right?

I think that is about as far thought out as these RTO mandates go.

There is almost always no business reason for RTO. There is no technical reason why most office workers can’t collaborate just as effectively remotely either.

RTO doesn’t save companies money. RTO definitely doesn’t increase productivity. (Most offices and ALL open plan offices are garbage for productivity, but that’s another issue for another day.) Finally, as I’ve long maintained – RTO drives away the best talent.

This post and the links above are just the latest examples.

I’ve been working from home most of the last 20 years and all of the last 11. I would never go back to an office. I know the other engineers where I work feel the same. Also, we’re really good at what we do, so we have choices. Sure the job market is not quite as rosy as it once was – but who cares? The cream always rises to the top and the best have all the options for work they want or need.

I look forward to watching all these RTO mandates cause companies to fall behind and ultimately fail.