my rock-star coworker will quit if she has to return to the office

A reader writes:

I am a high-performing, respected, well-liked senior contributor on a 25-person team at a global tech company. Since Covid, we have all been successfully working remotely. Recently, the company has enacted a “hybrid work” policy, which for me means I am supposed to go to the office three times a week. Because our team and those we work closely with are scattered around the globe, this means we are often going to the office to sit on virtual calls. Our team also has 12 contract workers who are not required to be in the office due to the terms of their contracts and desk availability. Additionally, the director of our team, Scott, is considered a teleworker and is grandfathered in, so the in-office policy doesn’t apply to him. There is one other non-contract employee who doesn’t live near an office and is also grandfathered in.

I give you all this context to ask for advice on advocating for a high-performing colleague, Molly, who has been given an ultimatum: move to be close to an office (without any moving assistance) or she will “exit the company” in the next few months. Molly started as an intern with the company and performed so well that she was hired full-time. She’s now been with us nearly five years and has been fully remote the entire time. She is one of the top performers on our team and is my star mentee who is expected to follow in my footsteps. This is important to note as my skills and knowledge make me somewhat of a “unicorn,” and my boss is always trying to find people who have similar skillsets.

Molly and I share a manager, Claudia, whom we both trust and respect. When this hybrid work policy was implemented towards the end of 2025, Claudia followed all the correct paths in HR to request an exemption for Molly to be redesignated as a teleworker based on her performance and value to the team and company, but it was denied. Claudia is very upset about this, and I do believe the decision was out of her hands and that HR has just drawn a hard line in the sand around this new policy. Scott, Claudia’s boss and our team’s director, also supported this exemption for Molly, and said he took it all the way up the chain to advocate for her. I believe both when they say they did all they could.

Beyond Molly’s stellar performance, I am outraged that this hybrid work policy is already being incredibly unfairly applied (see context above), that this decision will affect the entire team’s morale, and that the loss of her will mean I will most likely have to pick up the slack. (I already take on a lot of work beyond my core responsibilities, and I’ve made it clear with both bosses that I’m having better work boundaries in 2026 for my own mental health.) It has not been made clear if we’ll be able to backfill Molly’s role.

As her senior peer, what, if anything, can I do to advocate for her to stay? It’s really a simple ask of HR: redesignate a top-performer as a teleworker. As of now, Molly’s situation is largely unknown to most of the team. But I’ve been thinking, is there power in numbers? Assuming I get Molly on board, could I campaign to the rest of the team and ask them to “sign” or in some way show their support for Molly, and then share this evidence up the chain of command and to HR? I have a good amount of influence with the team, and I am willing to burn some professional capital on this crusade for fairness to keep my star mentee. I know something like this is a hail Mary at this point, so I’d appreciate any guidance!

You can read my answer to this letter at New York Magazine today. Head over there to read it.

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