Rolling out return-to office-plans? What to consider before making it a mandate

Things have gotten a lot better since the darkest days of the COVID pandemic, so it’s not surprising that many organizations are now thinking of asking their employees to return to the office. According to recent research by Microsoft, 50% of leaders say their company already requires, or plans to require, full-time in-person work in the coming year.

But this approach is likely to result in the loss of valuable employees. Research by my organization, The Myers-Briggs Company, shows that forcing workers to be in the office more often than they want to be significantly increases the chance that they will leave their jobs. A successful strategy for retaining good employees and keeping them engaged and motivated needs to take account of their personality preferences.

Until recently, most employees worked in an office or other communal workplace, although a minority were able to work from home some or all the time. The COVID-19 pandemic changed all this, and by October 2020, 71% of those whose job could be done from home had become remote workers.