The birthday
A Shanghai company split 1,612 of its employees into two groups by their birthdays.
Those born on even-numbered days came in five days a week; those born on odd-numbered days could work from home two days a week. No choosing, no swapping.
Six months later, the intention to quit was 33 per cent lower among those working partly from home. Performance: the same. Promotions: the same. Code quality: the same.
Before the experiment, the managers predicted that performance would decline. On seeing the numbers, they changed their minds.
The research, after all, was published in the scientific journal Nature; the managers’ opinion, however, was not.
Source and further reading: Nature / Stanford: Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance