Return-to-office mandates increase turnover—but it's your senior employees, skilled workers, and women who are leaving at the highest rates.
Mark Ma, research professor at the University of Pittsburgh, breaks down what the data actually shows about RTO mandates, brain drain, and the future of work. His research has been featured in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, BBC, and more.
This conversation goes deep on the disconnect between workplace policies and what actually drives performance:
• Why RTO as a "cheap layoff" backfires spectacularly
• The management training crisis: why leaders don't know how to lead hybrid teams
• Why we're measuring productivity completely wrong (and how to fix it)
• AI's impact on jobs and the case for 3-day work weeks
• How flexible work affects mental health, families, and birth rates
• Social mobility decline and why younger workers are opting out of career advancement
• Why amenities and coffee badging miss the point entirely
Mark brings rigorous research, honest takes on what's broken, and a genuinely optimistic long-term vision—even while acknowledging the rocky road ahead.
BONUS: Mark offers to help organizations run free pilot experiments on hybrid work policies. If you're willing to test your assumptions instead of defending them, reach out.
From tactical workplace insights to big-picture questions about meaning, policy, and the future we're building—this conversation will change how you think about work.📚 CONNECT WITH MARK MA:• LinkedIn• University of Pittsburgh
RTO mandates are up 77%. Actual attendance? Up just 2%.
So what's really working in hybrid work—and what's just expensive performance theater?
Brian Elliott (former VP at Slack, Executive Leader of Future Forum, and author of "How the Future Works") joins Jane Young to cut through the noise with data, not opinions.
We dig into:
• Why employee monitoring destroys performance
• The real cost of proximity bias in your organization
• What separates high-performing hybrid teams from struggling ones
• Why "just trust people" fails without the right systems
• Flexibility schedules: the breakthrough nobody's talking about
• How executive visibility bias drives terrible workplace decisions
Brian brings years of research scaling distributed teams through Slack's hypergrowth, plus refreshingly blunt takes on what leaders are getting wrong about the future of work.
If you're questioning your RTO policy, trying to build high-performing distributed teams, or wondering why your hybrid strategy isn't working - this conversation is packed with practical, data-backed answers.
📚 Brian's book: "How the Future Works"
🔗 Future Forum research: futureforumresearch.com
Tanisha Krishnan reveals the shocking disconnect between what leaders think is happening in their offices and reality - and why treating employees like customers is the key to hybrid work success.
The Head of Workplace UK at BNP Paribas shares how her unique background in architecture and design thinking helps organizations solve their biggest workplace challenges through data-driven, user-centric approaches.
Learn about the 75% vs 19% reality gap, why employees should be treated as "customers on the inside," and how to prepare for a 74% millennial/Gen Z workforce by 2030.
Essential listening for anyone navigating the complexity of hybrid work.
Hosted by Jane Young | Produced by HubStar
Bex Moorhouse reveals the simple test that exposes toxic workplace culture - and why being called "a machine" at work is actually a red flag.
The founder of Invigorate Spaces, who's transformed workplaces for Nike, Facebook, Disney, and 20th Century Fox, shares her journey from burnout to creating workplaces that actually care about humans.
Discover the Sunday Night Test that reveals your true culture, why "high performance" shouldn't mean constant performance, and how leaders can be umbrellas instead of pressure funnels.
This conversation will give you fresh hope that even one person can transform workplace culture.
Hosted by Jane Young & Joe Harris | Produced by HubStar
Dr. Craig Knight reveals the shocking truth about productivity measurement - and why most companies are doing it completely wrong.
The organizational psychology expert shares how he's achieved 50% wellbeing improvements, 32% productivity gains, and up to 19% intelligence increases by challenging everything we think we know about workplace performance.
Discover why subjective productivity measurement is "utterly pointless," how open plan offices were designed using prison surveillance concepts, and why one floor improvement generated £1.5M in additional income.
This conversation will completely change how you think about measuring and improving workplace performance.
Hosted by Jane Young & Joe Harris | Produced by HubStar