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

According to new research from BambooHR, a survey of over 1500 U.S. managers found that a quarter of C-suite executives hoped for some voluntary turnover among workers after implementing a 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”.

But it hasn’t worked as well 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. 

The tech giant is still complaining that workers are dodging the three-day in-office mandate, over a year after it was announced.

Research has shown that 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.

‘Commute or quit’ ultimatums becoming more explicit

While it’s clear that some bosses are “quiet firing”—essentially creating a negative work environment to make an employee leave on their own accord—others are being more explicit. 

Just last month, Patagonia gave some 90 staff members just 3 days to decide whether they’ll relocate close to the office or quit. 

Likewise, the gaming giant Roblox warned workers who can’t make it to the company’s physical office in California that they would have to find another job. 

Meanwhile, Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy warned workers that if they can’t commit to the company’s mandate, then “it’s probably not going to work out for you”.

Then there’s Walmart, which asked hundreds of employees to relocate to an entirely new city to comply with its RTO mandate or leave the company.