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Return to Office Attrition Calculator

See how many people a full return to office (RTO) mandate could cost you, and who walks first.

Your numbers

Research suggests about 1 in 5 consider leaving after a mandate
Projected cost of a mandate
 
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Do return to office mandates really increase attrition?

Research published through 2025 and 2026 repeatedly links hard RTO mandates to higher resignation rates, with a disproportionate effect on senior employees and women.

Where Compono fits

A mandate is a culture decision dressed up as a property decision, and the cost lands on the people you can least afford to lose. Compono Engage adds the people-insight layer that attendance trackers ignore, so you can see how engaged your teams actually are and where a policy change will do the most damage before you announce it. Built on decades of psychometric research and trusted by government departments and mid-market employers across ANZ, rated 4.8 out of 5 on Capterra.

See how it works

How it's calculated

Projected resignations are your remote or hybrid headcount multiplied by an estimated quit-intent uplift (defaulted to about one in five considering leaving after a mandate). Total cost is those resignations multiplied by a replacement cost of 1.5 times salary, which covers recruitment, lost productivity and ramp time. The quit-intent default draws on RTO attrition research published through 2025 and 2026. Adjust the uplift to match your own engagement data if you have it.

New to the term? Read the plain-English definition of attrition rate in the HR Glossary.

Common questions

Where does the default quit-intent figure come from?

The default assumes about one in five remote or hybrid staff would consider leaving after a mandate, in line with recent RTO attrition studies. You can change it to reflect your own data.

Why use 1.5 times salary as the replacement cost?

Replacing an employee carries recruitment, onboarding, lost productivity and ramp-up costs. A multiplier of 1.5 times salary is a widely used mid-range estimate, and it climbs higher for senior or specialised roles.

What can we do instead of a blanket mandate?

Start with how engaged and connected your teams already are. Measuring that gives you a far better basis for an attendance policy than a one-size-fits-all rule, and it shows you where flexibility is keeping good people.

This page is general information, not legal advice. We check figures annually and update them on a best-efforts basis, but employment rules change and we cannot promise everything here is current or complete. Before you act on it, confirm the detail with the relevant authority in your country or your own adviser. Last reviewed July 2026.