Your company rolled out a return-to-office policy. Three days a week, everyone in by Tuesday. And mostly, it's working. The people who are showing up are showing up.
The people who aren't? Your best ones.
Your top performer is logging in from home. The person everyone comes to when something is on fire, the one whose output is twice anyone else's — they're not complying, and they know you've noticed, and they're watching to see what you do.
This is the actual RTO problem nobody in leadership talks about. It's not the average employees who resist mandates. It's the ones you can least afford to lose. Gartner research found that high-performing employees are 16% more likely to have low intent to stay under strict RTO requirements, double the rate of average employees. Your best people have options, they know it, and rigid enforcement is often what finally makes them use them.
So what do you actually do?
First, separate the policy problem from your problem.
RTO policy is set above your pay grade. You didn't make the call, and you probably can't unmake it. But how you apply it within your team is still yours. Most RTO policies have more flexibility in execution than they appear to on paper — enforcement timelines, exceptions for specific situations, informal arrangements that nobody explicitly approved but nobody explicitly prohibited either.
Before you do anything, understand exactly what's required of you as a manager. Are you expected to track and report attendance? Does HR have a formal escalation process? Is there a written consequence for non-compliance? Many managers assume enforcement is stricter than it actually is, and create unnecessary confrontations with no upside.
Have the real conversation.
If your top performer is ignoring the policy, you need to talk to them — but not as an ultimatum. Come to it as a practical problem you're both trying to solve. Something like: "I need you in the office the required days. I also know forcing this might not make sense for either of us. Help me understand what's actually in the way."
Sometimes it's logistics — a specific day that conflicts with a standing commitment. Sometimes it's a genuine productivity concern — they do their best work in a specific environment. Sometimes it's a signal about something bigger. You won't know until you ask. And you can't negotiate a solution to a problem you don't understand.
Decide what you can and can't flex on.
If your organization allows managers to grant specific accommodations, use that authority. A high performer who comes in Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday instead of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday isn't defying you — they're meeting the letter of the requirement in a way that works for them. That's not favoritism. That's reasonable management.
What you cannot do is quietly tolerate non-compliance indefinitely while holding everyone else to the policy. That creates a two-tier team, and the people who are showing up and resenting it will notice. Visible inconsistency damages your credibility faster than almost anything else.
If they won't comply and you can't accommodate them, be direct about the stakes.
At some point the conversation changes: "I've tried to work with you on this. The requirement is real, and I need you to meet it. If that's not something you're willing to do, I want to understand what that means for your future here — and I'd rather have that conversation now than let it become a performance issue later."
That's not a threat. That's honesty. Most high performers respect it more than vague hints.
The uncomfortable truth about RTO enforcement is that you can enforce the policy correctly and still lose someone irreplaceable. That's a real risk, and it's worth naming it to your own leadership before it happens. But the alternative — making informal exceptions you can't sustain, or looking the other way until resentment builds on both sides — isn't a solution. It just delays the problem until it's messier.
Make the call clearly, make it consistently, and make it early.
