https://enhancv.com/blog/rto-stealth-layoffs/
Some highlights:
The average trust score for RTO motives sits at a mediocre 59/100.
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A staggering 72% of surveyed employees suspect their company’s RTO mandate is, in fact, attrition by design—a stealth layoff intended to make work life inconvenient enough that people quit voluntarily, allowing the company to reduce headcount without the PR nightmare or financial burden of severance packages.
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Once employees feel they’re being pushed out or misled, their internal monologue shifts from "How can I contribute?" to "How can I protect myself?" Our survey captured the specific ways this tactical presence manifests. The most visible trend is coffee badging—where nearly half the workforce (46%) admits to showing up just long enough to swipe their badge and be "seen" before leaving to work elsewhere. While leadership often turns to strict badge-tracking to ensure productivity, our data suggests that aggressive monitoring actually backfires. We’ve identified a surveillance paradox: the more a company tracks a worker, the less that worker is bought into the company’s mission.
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27.8% of interviewed employees have successfully negotiated a personal exception to the policy, while the rest are left to comply. This creates a visible two-tier workforce, where those without the leverage to opt out feel uniquely targeted. When you combine this lack of equity with the fact that 72% of surveyed employees suspect these mandates are actually stealth layoffs in disguise, the result is a total collapse of traditional corporate loyalty. If the company is perceived to be using office requirements to trigger resignations, employees no longer feel a moral obligation to give 100% of their energy to a single employer.