Re:Top workers more likely to want to quit when companies ha...
by Aurornis on Monday February 05, 2024 @04:15AM
(#39258993)
I had to click through to the original study to see the actual numbers. From the source:
> 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, double the rate of average employees. Among millennials and women, the intent to stay was 10% and 11% lower
So the self-reported “intent to stay” ranged from 8% lower to 16% lower depending on the group.
The way they cherry picked it sure does fit nicely into the “RTO makes high performers leave” narrative, but I’m actually surprised that the “intent to stay” was only 16% lower in the most cherry-picked group they could find. That’s honestly not much, and I can see why such numbers aren’t threatening to companies who are downsizing and doing RTO at the same time.
I think the narratives that RTO is nothing more than a downsizing mechanism are overblown. The downsizing is more likely to be the window of opportunity to let employees self-select out if they don’t fit the company’s new RTO direction, but most of these companies also have layoffs around these periods.
I work remote and have for years, but even I have to admit that moving everyone to WFH during COVID all at once created a lot of really bad situations with a lot of people who couldn’t handle it. It’s frustrating for those of us who can and do handle remote well, but the mass migration to WFH without preparation or filtering for WFH ability really poisoned the well.
> 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, double the rate of average employees. Among millennials and women, the intent to stay was 10% and 11% lower
So the self-reported “intent to stay” ranged from 8% lower to 16% lower depending on the group.
The way they cherry picked it sure does fit nicely into the “RTO makes high performers leave” narrative, but I’m actually surprised that the “intent to stay” was only 16% lower in the most cherry-picked group they could find. That’s honestly not much, and I can see why such numbers aren’t threatening to companies who are downsizing and doing RTO at the same time.
I think the narratives that RTO is nothing more than a downsizing mechanism are overblown. The downsizing is more likely to be the window of opportunity to let employees self-select out if they don’t fit the company’s new RTO direction, but most of these companies also have layoffs around these periods.
I work remote and have for years, but even I have to admit that moving everyone to WFH during COVID all at once created a lot of really bad situations with a lot of people who couldn’t handle it. It’s frustrating for those of us who can and do handle remote well, but the mass migration to WFH without preparation or filtering for WFH ability really poisoned the well.