Some companies are opposing remote and hybrid work, a firm wake-up call to employees. Throughout last year, Dell and its employees engaged in a back-and-forth struggle over a new work policy that has caused much debate.
In February of last year, Dell told most of its workers that they had to come into the office at least three days a week. This adds up to 39 days every three months. However, the way Dell introduced this rule did not go smoothly. Some employees said they were not told which office to report to. They also said they suspect the new rule was just a sneaky way to lay workers off.
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The following month, Dell started keeping track of its employees’ office attendance. It did this by monitoring their badge swipes and VPN logins. This will show when workers connect to the company’s network. However, many employees reportedly ignored the rule because they did not think it would hurt their chances of getting promoted. They were not bothered because, according to them, there weren’t a lot of promotion opportunities at Dell, so why bother?
By September, Dell started preparing for an even bigger change. The company sent a message to its sales team stating that they would have to come to the office every single workday, regardless of their job. This new rule was set to begin at the end of the month. Now, the company is making a big change that many employees would not like.
The company’s CEO, Michael Dell, recently sent a message to workers. He told them that, starting in March, hybrid and remote workers living within an hour of a Dell office must come to work in person daily. This means Dell is ending the policy that allowed workers to split their time between home and the office.
Dell has 41 offices across the country, with many in Texas and Massachusetts. Employees who live far from an office can still work from home. However, those who live nearby must return to the office full-time.
The CEO says this change is necessary because the tech industry is moving faster than ever, and Dell needs to keep up. He believes that working in person will help employees communicate more quickly and efficiently. For example, a short face-to-face conversation can save hours of emailing back and forth.
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Dell also claims that teams that have already returned to the office are working faster, have more energy, and are more excited about their jobs. It is the latest big company to tell its employees they need to work in the office instead of from home. This follows a trend where more companies ask workers to return to the office full-time.
Earlier this year, Amazon made a similar decision. It asked its employees to work in person five days a week starting January 2. Many Amazon workers were not happy with this change. Some even said they would start looking for new jobs because of it.
This push for office work recently got support from an influential figure. On January 20, former Donald Trump signed an order requiring all federal government workers to return to the office full-time.
Even though remote and hybrid work became very popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people still work from home today. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 75% of working adults in the U.S. do at least some of their work remotely. The survey also showed that 46% of workers would probably quit if their company stopped allowing remote work.