A research paper from University of Pittsburgh suggests that companies with a return-to-office (RTO) mandate are seeing brain drain. When employees are told they can no longer work remotely or on a hybrid schedule, many leave for better jobs. In particular, “The increase in turnover rates is more pronounced for female employees, more senior employees, and more skilled employees,” according to the paper.

The fact that women leave in higher numbers may have to do with care responsibilities and the need for flexibility in their schedules (the research only speculates). When it comes to more skilled and senior employees, however, they’re in the best position to leave because their skills and experience are presumably in high demand. Those are exactly the employees that organizations should be trying their hardest to retain. It’s expensive to replace them and time-consuming to get new employees up to speed.

Related, data out last month from workforce analytics company Revelio Labs, noted that over a two-year period, companies that required employees to work in person saw only a 1% growth in their headcount, whereas remote and hybrid organizations saw 1.6% growth, as reported by the Washington Post.

While some companies have admitted that RTO mandates are a “quiet firing” tactic (meaning the business is actively encouraging workers to quit so the company doesn’t have to lay them off), this new data seems to say it’s backfiring because the best and most experienced workers are more likely to be the ones who leave. Companies that don’t offer the benefits that are most important to employees won’t be able to attract top talent.

Image by Museums of History New South Wales via Unsplash.