NEW YORK, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Workforce growth among U.S. companies that allow hybrid work is outpacing that of firms mandating a return to office (RTO), The Washington Post on Wednesday cited data from Revelio Labs.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, some executives have pushed for workers to spend more time in offices, arguing it fosters a more attractive work culture. Amid resistance from many employees, some organizational psychologists and management experts have theorized that companies are using office mandates as a tool to push workers out, generating departures even as they seek to cut costs and downsize their workforces through traditional layoffs.
The findings from Revelio, a workforce analytics company, drew from data on hiring and attrition at public U.S. firms. They illustrate that RTO policies are in fact translating to smaller workforces, while "companies that are fully remote or flexible are able to grow faster," said Loujaina Abdelwahed, the Revelio economist who conducted the analysis.
Since June 2022, when many companies began pushing RTO mandates, businesses that allowed flexible work have grown their ranks by 1.6 percent, compared with 1 percent for firms requiring RTO, Revelio's data shows. Job satisfaction was higher among workers at non-RTO firms, Abdelwahed noted.
Revelio's findings echo a growing consensus in academic research regarding the effects of RTO mandates on organizational health, Abdelwahed noted.
