Employees may think quitting in response to their company\u2019s RTO mandate is a solid retaliatory reaction to their bosses, but it may actually be just what companies need.<\/p>\n
Rather than trimming down headcounts by enforcing layoffs, business leaders from across the U.S. told the Federal Reserve Beige Book<\/a> they\u2019re hoping that upping their in-person requirements will do the job.<\/p>\n The Fed Beige Book report, published eight times a year, summarizes current economic conditions across the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. It is based on interviews with business leaders, economists, and other local contacts for a real-time look at the economy.<\/p>\n The report highlighted that multiple districts this month have \u201cencouraged\u201d attrition with return-to-office mandates.<\/p>\n A separate survey of 849 managers reveals 3 in 10 companies<\/a> will require employees to work in-office five days a week by the end of the year, driven by corporate shifts and new regulations. Meanwhile, more than half of Fortune 100 desk workers<\/a> already have workplaces with fully in-office policies, according to new data from real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Just yesterday, tech giant Microsoft<\/a> said its employees will be required to go back into the office 3 days per week. Though Microsoft<\/a> has had rounds of letting people go this year<\/a>, Amy Coleman, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, assured employees in a memo yesterday \u201cthis update is not about reducing headcount,\u201d and instead is \u201cabout working together in a way that enables us to meet our customers\u2019 needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Almost half of workers say that if their employer no longer allowed them to work from home, they would be unlikely to stay at their job, including about a quarter who say they\u2019d be very unlikely to stay, according to a 2025 poll by Pew Research Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n But even for the workerks who ditch their jobs in response to more days commuting to the office, the grass might not be greener on the other side of the corporate job market.<\/p>\n Across the white collar job market, employment has looked increasingly frozen <\/a>for job seekers. Non-degree earners like bartenders and baristas in hospitality jobs are seeing bigger wage growth than office workers right now, as demand for in-person job experiences has surged post-pandemic.<\/p>\n Story continues <\/p>\n Another nail in the coffin? AI. The Fed\u2019s Beige Book also referenced the technology that is assisting organizations with silently trimming down headcount.<\/p>\n Though the Fed\u2019s research was published last week, it\u2019s not the first time CEO\u2019s have admitted RTO mandates were meant to make staff quit.<\/p>\n In 2024, a survey of over 1500 U.S. managers f<\/a>ound that a quarter of C-suite executives hoped for some voluntary turnover among workers after implementing a RTO policy\u2014with one in five HR professionals admitting their in-office policy was meant to make staff quit.<\/p>\n But even though bosses are the ones making their staff come back in, they\u2019re the ones who are notably zooming in on in-person meetings themselves. In fact, 93% of CEOs say they don\u2019t go into the office full-time<\/a> and have instead adopted flexible working patterns.<\/p>\n And despite employers sending out email memos on new mandates, a report from Resume Builder found that 1 in 5 workers <\/a>are ignoring their new in-person policies too.<\/p>\n