Balancing Company Needs with Employee Flexibility

A Unique Twist on Return to Office (RTO) Policies

Insight from Safe From Work 

I heard that a company with over 500+ employees botched their return-to-office policy last week. The company demanded that all employees come to the office 5 times a week.

The company's execs thought the team would be ecstatic to hang with their coworkers.

Instead, resignations came flying.

Especially among the most talented folks.

The cream of the crop has the best options.

That’s the world we live in.

Most executives aren’t solving for the most important consequence when implementing an RTO policy.

Mandating an RTO will result in your highest performers leaving.

If you are a top performer told to return to the office, then you think the company does not trust you to finish your work (even though they come in with the highest company reviews).

We should balance the company's needs with top performers' desire for flexibility.

How about allowing high-performers to unlock new perks on top of the standard RTO policy?

You could create a program that allows employees at the top 25% percentile for the past two performance cycles to apply for an exception to the RTO policy for, say, up to 3 months out of the year.

Policies are necessary to establish guidelines for large groups of people. However, they are designed for the lowest common denominator out of necessity. Policies should be designed knowing that decisions will affect people differently.

And top performers will not respond well to being treated like serfs by their company.

Who would say no to that?