High performers and millennials are the most likely to quit their jobs if firms enforce strict policies for a return to the office, research has found.
On average, according to the survey by global consultancy Gartner, employees’ “intent to stay” declined by 8% with strict return-to-office mandates. But among high-performing employees, intent to stay fell by 16% with these mandates. Among millennials and women, the intent to stay declined by 10% and 11%.
A number of surveys and announcements have indicated that more companies are pursuing policies of stricter office attendance. Research by Gartner last year found that half of employees said their company’s mandates prioritise what leaders want versus what employees need to do good work.
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According to Gartner, high-performers often react to stricter attendance rules as a signal that their organisation doesn’t trust them with the autonomy to make the best choices about how they get their work done.
Many of these employees feel that they have proven themselves and maintained high levels of performance throughout the pandemic and remote working.
The consultancy’s research has told it that in-person attendance “can yield moderate benefits” such as increased employee engagement, but HR leaders have been met with low compliance after encouraging employees to spend more time in the office, causing them to resort to stricter mandates.
Caitlin Duffy, director in the Gartner HR practice, said there were several costs to companies from stricter mandates, and “often these costs far outweigh the moderate benefits to employee engagement and effort”.
She added: “High-performing employees are more easily able to pursue opportunities at organisations that offer hybrid or fully remote policies.”
Female employees were also on average resistant to stricter mandates because the pandemic had shown how “increased flexibility and the ability to work from home enhanced their ability to manage work and life priorities”.
When organisations have more rigid in-person policies, women disproportionately face greater schedule complications and monetary costs related to caregiving responsibilities, the research found.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) were also more likely to be uneasy at stricter attendance rules. They were more experienced than Gen Z workers, found the study, so more likely to have customised their lifestyles and working arrangements, and the upper age range were more likely to have caring responsibilities than others.
Gartner recommended that employees should be motivated to return to the office rather than mandated. One way of achieving this was to focus on days in the office per year rather than per week. Its research found that organisations mandating a minimum number of in-office days per year achieved greater employee performance.
Enabling employees to shape the return to office policy themselves improved engagement and work performance, Gartner found. It also recommended that businesses transparently communicate their reasons for wanting employees to come into the office if they wanted positive effects on engagement and retention.
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