Companies are expanding globally to solve talent shortages. But without better internal mobility, they're scaling the same broken system.

A new report finds that mandatory full-time RTO policies are adding almost six weeks of commuting time for employees—a loss of $8,158 per employee annually. It's an impact that experts say could affect productivity, performance and, ultimately, retention.

To the extent that there is anything to the idea of treating an agent like an employee, it is only this: The agent has to be supervised.