Smart business leaders know that the people behind their organizations are their most powerful asset. And attracting, retaining, and motivating talent requires a delicate balance of inspiration, recognition, incentives, and culture – carefully cultivated over time but easily undone with one misstep. Trump’s recent return-to-office (RTO) mandate has the potential to be a devastating misstep.
The RTO mandate essentially introduces a new, restrictive qualification for all federal workers and prospective recruits: Be in the office from 9:00 – 5:00, five days a week. With this mandate, the government has disqualified a significant swath of its best employees, including:
- The most ambitious – who have found, and don’t want to give up, new levels of productivity gained by eliminating the time and stress of long commutes.
- The hardest workers – who may not have the means to live within a reasonable commuting distance or cover an extra 3 to 6 hours of childcare that time on the road or unexpected traffic snarls require.
- The most marketable – who refuse to sacrifice the flexibility a hybrid schedule gives them to structure their workweek to squeeze in an occasional family event, school function, or aging parent’s doctor’s appointment.
The post-Covid years have proved, through tinkering and tuning, that with a thoughtful balance of remote and office work, both employees and employers thrive. While certain roles—especially those demanding intense collaboration or client-facing work—still require full-time office presence, many positions can be done just as effectively (if not more so) in a hybrid environment. And while some employees perform better in full-time office settings, especially those early in their careers where mentoring and in-person structures are invaluable, most professionals perform better in hybrid arrangements, where they can deliver quality work with greater autonomy.
At FlexProfessionals, our talent pool is made up of thousands of ambitious, hardworking, highly marketable professionals who know their worth and are selective in their choice of job and employer, especially when it comes to flexibility. We expect our ranks to expand as those cast off by the federal RTO mandate speak with their feet. Among them will be professionals the new administration can’t afford to lose – those with the skills and expertise to drive transformation change. We and other forward-thinking employers who understand the power of flexible work, will be ready to capitalize on this talent exodus, and will be waiting to scoop up the best among them.
If you are an experienced professional seeking a hybrid, remote, or part-time position, we invite you to register with us. If you are an employer offering flexible work opportunities, you won’t find a better partner than FlexProfessionals to help you connect with top-tier talent across all business functions. Ready to scale your business through flexibility? Learn more here.