{"id":3000085512,"date":"2026-10-15T09:17:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?p=3000085512"},"modified":"2026-10-15T09:18:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:18:01","slug":"what-makes-a-return-to-office-plan-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/what-makes-a-return-to-office-plan-work","title":{"rendered":"What Makes a Return-to-Office Plan Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The mandate goes out on a Monday. The intention is good: leadership wants to get the team back in the same room, rebuild the energy that’s been missing. But by Friday, your top engineer has quietly updated her LinkedIn. By the end of the quarter, three senior people have moved on, and the open roles are taking 23% longer to fill<\/a>. The idea made sense, but the rollout didn’t quite leave room for the people it was trying to bring back.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research from the University of Pittsburgh<\/a> tracked over 3 million tech and finance workers’ employment histories on LinkedIn to measure what happens after an RTO mandate is announced. The findings were consistent and costly: firms saw a 14% increase in turnover, and the departures were concentrated among the people companies can least afford to lose: senior employees and the most skilled workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also one very important condition: coming into the office must be an experience worth choosing, not a policy to be enforced. Let\u2019s see what that looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n