More companies are enforcing their employees to return back to the office post-pandemic. (Courtesy: Brainslav Nenin/Shutterstock)
More companies are enforcing their employees to return back to the office post-pandemic. Some of the companies that have already mandated this new policy are Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google, Tesla, Disney and Starbucks.
Three years ago when the COVID-19 pandemic began, remote work seemed like the best option for people to practice physical distance to decrease the spread of the virus. However, after coming out of the pandemic, some corporate companies have continued remote work or made the decision to implement a hybrid approach.
Apple decided to slowly phase out its hybrid work approach by telling its employees to come into the office at least three days a week. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook sent a memo to staff saying they’re expected to be in the office from Tuesdays to Thursdays. However, not everyone was satisfied with that decision. Some employees under the name Apple Together took it upon themselves to create an online petition demanding flexible remote work. In the petition, it states, “We believe that Apple should encourage, not prohibit, flexible work to build a more diverse and successful company where we can feel comfortable to ‘think different’ together.”
According to a memo sent previously to corporate employees, Cook said, “This revised framework will enhance our ability to work flexibly, while preserving the in-person collaboration that is so essential to our culture.”
However, one of the companies that support their employees to work remotely is Airbnb. The company launched its Live and Work Anywhere policy last April, allowing their employees the flexibility to work wherever they want. “The business has actually never performed better since we moved to this program,” Airbnb Chief Financial Officer Dave Stephenson said.
In an email sent to Airbnb employees from co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky it says, “To recap, here’s our design for living and working anywhere: you can work from home or the office, you can move anywhere in the country you work in and your compensation won’t change, you have the flexibility to travel and work around the world, we’ll meet up regularly for gatherings and we’ll continue to work in a highly coordinated way.”
Chesky found that with unprecedented times, remote jobs seemed like a great new chapter for his company to continue to adapt with and said he’s excited about this new design and giving people the flexibility to live and work anywhere.
According to the Global Survey of Working Arrangements,“There is a gap between the number of WFH days per week desired by employees and planned by employers. While employees would like to work from home on average 2.0 days per week around the globe, employers only plan 1.1 WFH days per week.”
Courtesy: EconPol Europe / Working from Home Around the Globe:2023 Report
Where do you stand on this topic? Do you think corporate companies should adapt to remote working by giving employees the flexibility to work from home as long as the work is being done?
