A study has found that return to office mandates resulted in a noteworthy number of senior employees leaving jobs at Microsoft, Apple, and SpaceX. Pen

Return to office mandates had senior employees jumping ship

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2024-05-14 20:00:11

A study has found that return to office mandates resulted in a noteworthy number of senior employees leaving jobs at Microsoft, Apple, and SpaceX.

Penned by researchers from the University of Michigan and University of Chicago, the study [PDF] analyzed resume data via People Data Labs from a variety of tech companies to measure what effect return to office mandates had on workforce demographics. They took particular interest in Microsoft, Apple, and SpaceX since these were some of the first employers to demand a shift back to working on-site.

These return to office mandates also predated the massive tech industry layoffs that began in 2022, helping to isolate the impact from the remote working rules.

Microsoft, which issued its return to office order in April 2022, required employees to spend at least half the week in the office. By contrast, Apple only asked for a single day, while SpaceX abolished remote work altogether.

Even with a somewhat middle-of-the-road policy, Microsoft's data shows over a four percent increase in the share of positions held by sub-senior employees immediately after implementing its return to office mandate.