Work-From-Office Mandate? Expect Top Talent Turnover, Culture Rot
Computerworld, Thursday, January 22nd, 2026
Organizations requiring IT workers to commute to an office need to ground decisions in value creation, focus on data-driven results, and avoid badge-swipe metrics, employment experts say.
Work-from-office mandates are accelerating as the world moves further away from the COVID-19 pandemic, but the push toward in-person work environments will make it more difficult for IT leaders to retain and recruit staff, some experts say.
Over the past year, many companies, including IT giants Amazon and Microsoft, have required employees to work from the office, with many other organizations mandating on-site work in previous years.
Nearly half of all workers, and nearly two-thirds of IT professionals, were feeling pressure from their employers to work from the office as of early 2025, according to the 2025 Technology at Work Report, released by IT security firm Ivanti.