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Return-to-office mandates can undermine high-performance cultures, and organisations that implement them poorly should expect to see "a lot of talent walk out the door", according to performance and leadership specialists.

Speaking at a Sydney event hosted by recruitment company Cox Purtell, performance culture consultant Karl Treacher said blanket return-to-office directives were often driven by "old grey guys" on company boards, or by shareholders, and they could destroy the culture of trust that's crucial to developing high performing teams.

"Organisations that actually value performance culture will make the effort to structure the way people interact with one another," whether in the office or as part of distributed work teams, said Treacher, who is CEO of The Culture Institute of Australia.

"We've already seen a lot of mandates and we're going to see a lot more," he added...