Decisions to tighten return to office (RTO) mandates generate a lot of headlines, and strike dread into the hearts of many employees. Yet data suggests the shift back to pre-pandemic rules hasn’t gained as much momentum as reports might suggest. There may be good reasons for that go-slow approach, too. Studies suggest companies that have restricted or entirely ended remote working arrangements are paying the price in terms of decreased worker diversity—potentially losing out on business benefits found through more broadly comprised workforces.
While blowback was widespread after Amazon’s September announcement mandating a full, five-day RTO regime, evidence suggests the people most averse to stricter work arrangements respond by moving on rather than complaining. According to studies, people most likely to leave tightening in-office regimes are women, people of color, workers with disabilities, and employees doubling as caregivers to loved ones. Their choice to walk rather than return to cubicles is fueling is a decline in staff diversity at RTO-tightening enterprises, and the enrichment that those divergent experiences and insights provide.
“The workforce will become less diverse,” Harvard Business School professor and remote work expert Prithwiraj Choudhury told the Washington Post, warning increased uniformity risks narrowing internal company perspectives and responses to challenges: “It will be more White and more male.”
A survey of 2,080 knowledge workers released earlier this year by business consultancy Gartner measured the effects of tightened RTO decisions on staffs. It found stiffer mandates undermined employee intent to stick with their jobs by 8 percent on average, but 11 percent for women, 10 percent for Millennials, and 16 percent for the highest performers. Often, the cohorts particularly averse to restricted remote or hybrid arrangements also included large numbers of people of color and those with disabilities.
A study by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School took an inverse approach and uncovered similar findings. It by analyzed replies to job postings before, during, and after the pandemic, and evolving work arrangements over those periods.
“When the same jobs shifted from in-person to remote, that single change yielded a 15 (percent) increase in female applicants, a 33 (percent) increase in underrepresented minority applicants, and a 17 (percent) increase in total applicant experience,” a Wharton publication on the study explained.
Why the higher diversity in candidate attraction to the less rigid work conditions? The study attributed that to the greater time and location flexibility those arrangements offered. But also important to women, people of color, and those with disabilities was the ability to perform their work remotely—without the second-guessing, unwanted advice, or other disturbances they may have to deal with in office settings.
“Remote work allows women and minorities to remove themselves from hostile work environments or offices where they may encounter microaggressions or overt discrimination,” the Wharton article said.
Despite the attention the reinforced RTO mandates by Amazon, UPS, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Starbucks have generated, the Post noted the wider consequences of return to the office orders have so far been smaller than imagined. For example, a June U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics analysis found the portion of people who worked from home remained stable at about 35 percent between 2022 and 2023. Other stats indicate remote and hybrid practices haven’t decreased much in 2024, either.
The Post also noted that many companies with flexible work regimes have benefited from people fleeing companies tightening the RTO screws. Pinterest, for example, has been hiring a far greater mix of people than ever, “with 68 percent of diverse workers and 63 percent of women based outside of the company’s Bay Area home base,” the paper said.
That improved ability to attract and retain a wider blend of high-performing candidates also offers employers added insights and value they’d otherwise lack, said CEO of Work Forward business advisory, Brian Elliott.
“Diversity is tied to innovation,” Elliot told the Post. “People with diverse perspectives bring in new ideas and show you your monocultural blind spots.”
Were that not enough, greater work flexibility also apparently reduces the risk of higher staff turnover.
A recent survey by the Conference Board found 45 percent of personnel managers reported difficulties retaining employees once in-office mandates have been announced. Nearly the same number said they had a harder time keeping people on staff once their on-site presence had merely been strongly encouraged.
Worse still for bosses, the employees most inclined to leave after the imposition of those restrictions are the workers they can least afford to lose.
“Mandated on-site requirements can carry very steep costs for talent attraction and retention,” said Caitlin Duffy, director of Gartner’s specialized HR unit.” This is especially true for high-performers, women, and millennials—three employee segments who greatly value flexibility. Often these costs far outweigh the moderate benefits to employee engagement and effort.”