Companies who force workers back to the office are losing a lot of key employees

Workplace consultant Unispace has revealed the extent of the damage that return-to-office mandates have has across the globe, with 42% of the employers that formed part of its study saying that they had a higher level of employee walkout than they had anticipated. A further 29% say that they are now struggling to recruit altogether thanks to their lack of hybrid work support.

The figures come from an extensive study of 9,500 employees and 6,650 employers from 17 different countries, which compares the current working situation with that of 2021.

An astonishing 72% of the companies questioned say that they have now enforced a return-to-office mandate, much to the dissatisfaction of their workers.

RTOs are really not working

Many companies, including Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, have already spoken out about the benefits of working in person, such as ad-hoc communication and collaboration that lead to better productivity, and the benefits on the local economy.

According to Unispace, employers are typically more confident in recruiting and training new workers in person, as well.

Even so, existing workers are citing increased privacy, a quiet environment, and generally better productivity as key benefits to support the WFH argument.

A clear disparity between employers and employees is the highlight of this study, with three-quarters (75%) of the business leaders indicating recent growth in their real estate, and a further 83% of employers believing that their office is set up to allow employees to be productive.

While its approach and sheet scale differs from previous studies, this report’s findings mirror those of countless other reports that have surfaced over the previous years, all of which indicate that employers are simply not providing the right tools or settings for their workers.

• Still able to WFH? You may want to consider the best video conferencing software