'Making anything mandatory is unlikely to be effective,' says academic emphasizing 'flexibility and choice'
When organizations implement rigid return to office (RTO) mandates, high-performers, women and millennials are the most likely to quit their job, according to a survey.
Intent to stay among average employees was 8% lower with strict RTO mandates. Among high-performing employees, their intent to stay was 16% lower with these RTO mandates, and among millennials and women, the intent to stay was 10% and 11% lower, found the Gartner survey of 2,080 knowledge worker employees from May through June 2023.
“Mandated on-site requirements can carry very steep costs for talent attraction and retention. This is especially true for high-performers, women and millennials – three employee segments who greatly value flexibility,” said Caitlin Duffy, director in the Gartner HR practice. “Often these costs far outweigh the moderate benefits to employee engagement and effort.”
Alternatives to return to office mandates
Amy Spurling, founder and CEO of Compt, said she doesn’t understand the push to go back to an office setting, as there is “plenty of data” that highlights the benefits of remote working.
“I get that management would really like to have their office buildings filled, but it's really on management to make sure that you're structuring work in a way that can support people as humans,” she said. “If you're worried your employees aren’t working, then that's on you because you haven't created a structure that allows for you to trust that employees are hitting their goals.”
Source: Gartner
Instead of implementing return-to-office mandates, Spurling advocates for a more flexible approach. Not only is her company remote, but it also provides a number of resources for employees including a caregiver stipend and caregiver days in addition to their PTO.
“Our caregiver days aren’t just for people with children — because a caregiver can look like a lot of different things — but recognizing that people have responsibilities and family obligations and carving out some time to cover that is something that we've focused on this year,” she said.
Return to office mandates and psychological safety
A December survey from Resume Builder revealed employers were implementing return to office mandates because they believe it has a positive impact on productivity (76%), improves culture (63%), and betters employee satisfaction, while 29% of business leaders say working from the office reduces burnout.
But Duygu Biricik Gulseren, assistant professor at York University, challenges the notion of a rigid return-to-office mandate, advocating instead for a more nuanced approach that acknowledges the diverse needs of employees.
Building psychological safety within organizations is a crucial step in fostering inclusivity, and understanding and promoting this concept can lay the foundation for a more equitable workplace culture, she said.
"Making anything mandatory is unlikely to be effective," she said. "Flexibility and choice are crucial in mitigating workplace conflicts, particularly those stemming from role congruency issues."
When working from home is not a possibility, psychological safety is the “utmost important factor” for making in-person work environments inclusive, Biricik Gulseren said. While psychological safety is not always easy to implement, allyship to women to understand their perspective and support gender equality in the workplace, especially from management, can “make a huge difference,” she said.
The impact of return to office mandates on women
Because women are typically primary caregivers, return to office mandates can mean that women’s time is blocked by the organization for a particular period. This doesn’t just extend to work hours but also, for example, to the time commuting to and from the office, which ultimately takes away flexibility and autonomy from women, Biricik Gulseren said.
"Women carry a significantly heavier role at home, and the unequal distribution of responsibilities at home, coupled with biases and microaggressions in the workplace, can dissuade women from returning to offices.”
For Biricik Gulseren, the results of the study are unsurprising, as despite the progress that has been made regarding gender equality in the workplace, a “huge imbalance” still persists, as typically, women carry a heavier role at home, which increases the pressures upon them, she said.
Women also experience time-based conflict, strain-based conflict and behaviour-based conflict more than men in the workplace. So, when a return to office mandate is imposed, women suffer more in all three of these domains, she said.
“Giving women control and autonomy and the option to choose when, how, why and in what way they do their work, it can be a huge relief both in terms of work and personal responsibilities.”
Supporting employees intentionally with RTW
Spurling emphasizes the need for employers to be intentional when it comes to connecting employees with one another instead of forcing that connection through a return to office mandate.
“If you want to get people together, do that intentionally. I understand the value of getting employees together, but requiring employees to be in the office four days a week is arbitrary,” she said.
When it comes to implementing these intentional strategies, being clear and open with employees is essential to making sure they feel safe within the workplace. Ensuring that benefits, like a caregiver stipend, are open to all employees is also of utmost importance, Spurling said.
“We need to go above and beyond to make sure people really do feel space and to let them know that, for example, it is okay to have children,” she said. “So, we spent a lot of time and energy making sure that we celebrate people who are using these benefits or taking caregiver time to look after their kids. They need to know that we have them covered, and making sure that’s very public is really important.”
