Want Your Best Workers to Quit? Make Them Come In Every Day
Amazon, the Washington Post and — if Elon Musk gets his way — the government, are demanding employees return to the office full-time. It will backfire.
When Trump’s in office, Musk wants federal workers in-office.
Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North AmericaFive days a week. That’s the new return-to-office policy at Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post and at Amazon.com Inc., the retail giant now run by his designated successor Andy Jassy. It’s also the RTO recommendation Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have announced for the US federal government.
It’s a terrible way to manage talent. It seems obvious that these unpopular policies are a way to spur employees to quit, in a kind of “self-deportation” version of layoffs — but without severance payouts, health insurance continuance or WARN Act notification periods. That may sound appealing to some employers, but they should recognize which workers are most likely to leave voluntarily: those with the most sterling credentials, the most in-demand skills, and the best alternative employment options. In other words, the top-tier talent employers are usually desperate to retain.