I'm not aware that Microsoft has a "return-to-office" mandate. Maybe that's only for some employees? I know quite a few people on product teams who are 100% remote.
I expect driving senior talent away is part of the strategy - the senior talent demands the highest compensation, which is what these employers are combatting industry-wide and in coordination. They want to hire them back at lower wages later on.
>Microsoft, which also enacted a hybrid RTO approach, saw a decline of 5 percentage points.
Claiming it's hybrid is disingenuous imo.
Requiring people to come to the office 3 days a week for no reason other than executives and managers getting off on control is moronic.
“Hybrid” RTO has literally no benefit over RTO except for being able to say “hybrid”.
It forces all of the same problems as RTO - cost and location of living, planning for not being home, massive commute times, etc