by Jeroslyn JoVonn
February 6, 2026
Return-to-office mandates are compelling extremely expert workers, older employees, and caregiver to go away, in response to analysis.
As employers roll again hybrid and distant work and implement return-to-office mandates, new analysis signifies the shift may very well be costing them prime expertise.
Newly launched analysis reveals that workers who go away after new return-to-office guidelines are (re)established are sometimes prime performers and extremely skilled employees with vital leverage, CNBC reviews. The findings additionally point out that working mother and father and caregivers (usually girls), in addition to workers with disabilities who require office lodging, are being pushed out.
“The chance of extra expert workers departing after RTO mandates is 77% increased than that of much less expert employees, and the chance of senior workers departing after RTO mandates is 36% increased than that of junior employees,” mentioned Mark Ma, an affiliate professor of enterprise administration on the College of Pittsburgh.
The findings coincide with a rising wave of return-to-office mandates, as Stellantis and Residence Depot have joined main corporations, together with Instagram, Paramount, and Amazon, in calling workers again to the workplace 5 days every week. Research point out that roughly 34% of U.S. companies now require full-time workplace attendance.
The insurance policies are widening a generational rift, as many millennial and Gen Z employees push again towards the transfer. Regardless of executives selling full-time, in-office work as higher for effectivity, creativity, and tradition, it stays the least favored choice—particularly amongst workers of their 20s and 30s. Consultants warning that the stress may result in burnout, disengagement, and a lack of prime expertise.
Analysis reveals a pointy shift in worker sentiment: simply 40% of employees mentioned in December 2025 that they’d give up or search for a distant job if confronted with a compulsory return-to-office order, down from 91% in January 2025. The drop suggests workers are adjusting again to full-time workplace work, even when they’re sad with it.
Consultants observe that whereas some employees comply resulting from a shaky job market, others select to go away, which can be what the employer desires. Stanford economist Nick Bloom, who research distant work, says some corporations could welcome voluntary departures.
“One approach to lose about 5% to 10% of workers is to make all of them are available 5 days every week,” Bloom defined. “For each person who quits due to the RTO, that’s one much less person who wants a redundancy bundle.”
There’s nonetheless hope for jobseekers.
“The overwhelming majority of companies are nonetheless permitting employees to have a hybrid schedule,” Ma mentioned.
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