Quarter of bosses admit return-to-office mandates were meant to make staff quit

According to research from BambooHR, a survey of more than 1,500 U.S. managers found a quarter of C-suite executives hoped for some voluntary turnover among workers after implementing an RTO policy. 

Meanwhile, one in five HR professionals admitted their in-office policy was meant to make staff quit.

It’s why the report concludes what many workers have long suspected: that “RTO mandates are layoffs in disguise”.

Return-to-office mandates haven’t gone as hoped

It’s no secret that rigid in-office policies haven’t landed well with workers. Amazon is perhaps the most documented example of how ugly the RTO battle can get.

Around 30,000 employees signed a petition protesting the company’s in-office mandate, and more than 1,800 pledged to walk out from their jobs to take a stand. When the tech giant eventually demanded workers show face in the office five days a week, numerous staffers told Fortune they were immediately updating their LinkedIn profiles and “rage applying” for new jobs. “Honestly, I’ve lost so much trust in Amazon leadership at this point,” one person said.

Research has shown 99% of companies with RTO mandates have seen a drop in engagement.

Meanwhile, separate data shows that nearly half of companies with return-to-office mandates witnessed a higher level of employee attrition than they had anticipated, and 29% of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment. 

Even BambooHR’s research has highlighted that nearly a third of workers would consider leaving their positions if forced to return to their company’s vertical towers.

But in reality, many workers aren’t following through with such threats—and fewer are quitting than bosses had hoped.

Nearly 40% of all managers in the survey said they believe their organization did layoffs because not enough workers quit in response to their company’s RTO mandate.

A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on July 24, 2024.

More on RTO mandates:

• ‘Hushed hybrid’: Even as RTO mandates grow, workers still aren’t fully showing up to the office—a sign managers are too burnt out to enforce policies
• Robinhood CEO admits his RTO call was wrong and now says execs must be in the office 5 days a week: ‘Your manager is going through more pain than you’
• More than 60% of workers have considered changing jobs due to rigid RTO policies and would take a pay cut for better flexible work options