diff --git a/src/rgw/driver/sfs/writer.cc b/src/rgw/driver/sfs/writer.cc
index f0058bbcbe7456..c63e81684276bd 100644
--- a/src/rgw/driver/sfs/writer.cc
+++ b/src/rgw/driver/sfs/writer.cc
@@ -332,9 +332,7 @@ int SFSAtomicWriter::complete(
           bucketref->get_info().obj_lock.get_lock_until_date(now);
       string mode = bucketref->get_info().obj_lock.get_mode();
       RGWObjectRetention obj_retention(mode, lock_until_date);
-      bufferlist bl;
-      obj_retention.encode(bl);
-      attrs[RGW_ATTR_OBJECT_RETENTION] = bl;
+      encode(obj_retention, attrs[RGW_ATTR_OBJECT_RETENTION]);
     }
   }