|
|
Amazon is making headlines for recalling many employees to the office five days a week claiming that it will increase efficiency and improve work culture. They have specifically stated that they want to return to how things were pre-COVID, with working in the office as the default.
This is their second major return to the office (RTO) push. In August 2023 they told staff to return three days a week and started tracking attendance, but most employees just didn’t comply. This time it looks like tracking will be stricter, counting hours and not just daily check-ins, with different teams needing to log between two and six hours a day. This is designed to reduce “coffee badging”, which was prolific following the last RTO call.
What other major companies that went almost fully remote during the pandemic are now trying to recall employees to the office more-or-less full-time in 2024? And what are the consequences of this move likely to be?
Major Companies Recalling Talent
Amazon is one of the biggest names recalling staff to the office, and have one of the stricter requirements, but many major companies are implementing similar policies.
- Apple has recalled all talent to the office, implementing hybrid contracts with staff in the office three days a week. But staff have pushed back against the mandate sighting that communication and serendipity don’t outweigh flexibility and productivity.
- BlackRock has required staff back in the office at least four days a week for over a year.
- Chipotle now requires corporate staff in the office at least four days a week. This was accompanied by a major reorganization that also saw 25 corporate jobs shed.
- Citigroup has asked around 600 employees to return to office full time, or hybrid, with two remote workdays.
- Disney has recalled staff to the office four days a week to support the ability to connect, observe, and create with peers.
- Goldman Sachs now requires a five-day in-the-office work week after senior managers complained about not having staff present in the office.
- Google now requires most staff to commit to at least three days a week in the office. Staff have pushed back suggesting that the company check their work and not their badge (which monitors location).
- IBM managers must now be in the office at least three days, and have been told that if they can’t comply, they should quit. This is despite several offices closing, including Philadelphia, central New Work State, and Iowa.
- JPMorgan requires that all managing directors come into the office five days week. Staff have called the move tone deaf and divisive.
- Meta wants all staff in the office three days a week. Staff have called it a disaster, especially since the company adopted a desk-sharing strategy that has proven challenging for productivity.
- Redfin requires their staff living within 20-miles of a headquarters work two days a week in the office, specifically Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Those who live further afield need to attend meeting at headquarters once a quarter.
- Salesforce wants employees back in the office four or five days a week. It doesn’t apply to everyone, but even engineers need to be in the office ten days per quarter. They have rolled out an internal dashboard to track employee locations.
- Snap recalled staff to the office four days a week initially giving them 60 days to relocate or leave the company.
- Tesla requires staff in the office at least 40 hours a week and considers unauthorized no-shows as equal to a resignation. However, company insiders say that the company still doesn’t have the resources to bring all their employees back in.
- X, like Tesla, also requires staff in the office 40 hours a week. But some X employees claim that X broke the law when they fired some employees for non-compliance.
- Uber requires their staff to be in the office for at least half of their contracted hours.
- Walmart requires remote workers to relocate to central hubs to be in the office at least some of the time. Staff have pushed back against the move.
- Zoom wants employees living with 50 miles of an office to return two days a week. This mandates only about 34% of Zoom’s workforce.
These are just some of the bigger companies that are embracing return to office policies.
The Impact of RTO Policies
According to a survey of more than 800 companies that went fully remote during the pandemic that are how asking staff to return to the office, senior management believe that the return to office is having a positive impact.
According to senior managers, 65% believe that communications have improved, 63% believe that productivity has improved, 61% are seeing improved engagement, and 52% are reporting better morale. 59% of respondents say that they believe that employees are spending more time working, while 45% think that all staff should be in the office 4-5 days week.
However, these are the opinions of senior managers who have been pushing for a return to the office, and not based on any data or hard facts. Many believe that these results reflect the vested interest that managers have in justifying return to the office policies rather than reality.
The Robin Return to Office Report 2024 paints a different picture in their survey of employees. 45% of those surveyed are required to return to the office due to a company mandate, but only 24% are compliant. While most say they don’t want to come to the office, 73% admit that they feel more connected while there. But only 64% suggested that this was a priority for them. A far greater concern was productivity, with 71% believing that they lost productivity by going into the office.
Surveys also suggest that 50% of remote employees will quite and look for a new job if they are required to return to the office full time. This could be a major problem, since the Boston Consulting Group estimates that it costs 200% of a senior executive’s annual salary to replace them. 80% of people who applied for remote jobs but were offered in-office employment also turned down those roles.
Businesses that mandate a return to the office are expected to suffer from a talent crunch, which is expected to peak over the next decade due to labor shortages, an aging workforce, and increased self-employment. The general consensus is that these businesses are shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to recruiting and maintaining talent.
Are There Benefits?
Despite the evidence suggesting that mandating a return to the office is a bad idea in the current business climates, the momentum seems to be increasing rather than subsiding. The main drivers seem to be attachment to old fashioned work models and a lack of trust, with managers simply not trusting that teams are working productively while away from the office.
But are there any real benefits to bringing teams back into the office. There are a few, and these will need to be maximized to justify these new policies. The first is that live observation does result in stronger teams and better training and facilitates serendipitous innovation and mentoring relationships. There are mental health benefits as isolation has been one of the major challenges of the remote work revolution. It may also promote a healthier work-life balance, as coming into the office can make it easier to separate work and leisure time.
Only time will tell if these benefits are sufficient to outweigh the risks of demanding that talent returns to the office.
