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Microsoft’s Return-to-Office mandates led to senior-level brain drain

3 min. read

Published onMay 14, 2024

published onMay 14, 2024

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According to a joint study from the University of Chicago and University of Michigan, the push from tech giants such Apple, Microsoft, Google and SpaceX to force employes back to the office resulted in high percentage of senior level employees leaving the company.

Shortly after the Biden administration declared the COVID-19 pandemic over, many employers sought to regain a sense of normalcy by ushering in relatively harsh RTO mandates to employees who had been working remote for the past two and half years.

Despiteoverwhelming statistical evidencethat remote work had little to no impact on productivity across the labor market, companies including Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, and SpaceX began mandating RTO orders or favoring in-office promotions as policy.

However, it seems those RTO mandates may have had the opposite effect than what was envisioned by the companies pushing for them.

The Washington Post reported on the joint studypublished by both the University and University of Michigan which specifically covers Microsoft, SpaceX, and Apple RTO mandates and “its negative effects on the tenure and seniority of their respective workforce.”

The specifics of the study include looking at resume date from People Data Labs while also viewing “260 million resumes matched to company data.” While the study on examined the effects of RTO mandates from Apple, Microsoft and SpaceX, the three were large enough to account for roughly thirty percent of the tech industry’s revenue and just over two percent of the sectors workforce.

The findings of study implied “that return to office mandates can imply significant human capital costs in terms of output, productivity, innovation, and competitiveness for the companies that implement them.”

“We find experienced employees impacted by these policies at major tech companies seek work elsewhere, taking some of the most valuable human capital investments and tools of productivity with them.

Following Apple’s RTO mandate back in May of 2022 that supported some work-from-home time as well as in office requirements it saw senior level departures decrease by five percentage points. Microsoft, which held a similarly revised RTO mandate saw a similar decline in its executives and senior developers leaving the company.

However, SpaceX which stuck to an ardent full-time RTO mandate saw its senior-level employee rate drop by fifteen percentage points, according to the joint study.

While Apple was the only company to respond to the joint-study with spokesperson Josh Rosenstock claiming that report represented an “inaccurate conclusion” because the company is seeing “historically low levels” of attrition, it should be noted that another analysis of 457 S&P 500 companies also buttress the notion that RTO mandates decrease moral and ultimately affect a company’s value and productivity.

Microsoft began 2022 with much harsher RTO mandates than they currently have, and it may be due to the level of attrition or employee feedback, but the company has evolved its stance over time.

Newer WFH policies include part-time off-site work as well as revisiting their position on promotions for WFH employees. With over seventy five percent of the tech sector accommodating flexible work environments, Microsoft’s RTO mandates feel outdated and could lead to long term harm to the company as its valued employees leave for positions at rival companies that support better work/life balances.

Kareem Anderson

Networking & Security Specialist

Kareem is a journalist from the bay area, now living in Florida. His passion for technology and content creation drives are unmatched, driving him to create well-researched articles and incredible YouTube videos.

He is always on the lookout for everything new about Microsoft, focusing on making easy-to-understand content and breaking down complex topics related to networking, Azure, cloud computing, and security.

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Kareem Anderson

Networking & Security Specialist

He is a journalist from the bay area, now living in Florida. He breaks down complex topics related to networking, Azure, cloud computing, and security

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low#

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app#

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities#

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount#

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier#

Microsoft’s Return-to-Office mandates led to senior-level brain drain#