These (Well Known) Companies are Bringing Employees Back to the Office

For the last three years, employees have had flexible schedules working from home, but that may become a thing of the past sooner than we thought. Employers have seen the signs of quiet quitting and declines in productivity, creativity and collaboration – and they’re concerned. Tech CEOs who originally embraced remote work as the way of the future are blaming it for diminishing productivity and many companies are setting mandates to bring their employees back to the office.

We’ve compiled a list of some well known companies that are asking for a return to the office, and what their new office policies look like:

Google

In April 2022, employees were told to return to the office for at least three days a week. In August 2023, Google updated its hybrid three-day-a-week office policy to include badge tracking and noted attendance will be included in performance reviews. Also, employees who have already received approval for remote work may now have that status reevaluated.

Zoom

Even Zoom doesn’t want to Zoom anymore. Leadership is mandating employees that live within a 50 mile radius of an office return to the office at least 2 days per week as of September 2023. 

Citadel

They’ve been back in the office since June 2021 and it's contributed to their best year to date in 2022, with about $28 billion in revenue. Ken Griffin, Founder said in a June interview "We make so much money because our competition plays in their pajamas – and that's just been a home run for us."

Amazon

As of May 1st 2023, all corporate employees must spend three days in the office per week. Leaders are warning staff if they don’t comply it could impact their chances of being promoted.

Meta

As of September 2023, Meta ordered employees back to the office at least three days per week.

Apple

Back in August 2022, the CEO announced that all employees must return to the office at least three days a week. Just like Amazon, they believe that in person work will help collaboration among employees. As of September 2022, they’ve implemented this policy. 

Twitter/ X

In November 2022, Elon Musk stated to employees that not showing up to the office when they’re able to was the same as a resignation. He also emailed all employees saying that remote work was no longer allowed and that they were expected to be in the office for at least 40 hours a week unless given approval to work elsewhere. As of now, Twitter is looking to sublease up to 200,000 square feet of NYC space in Flatiron.

Salesforce

The company is requiring non-remote employees to go to the office three days a week, “customer-facing” roles are required to go in four days a week, and engineers are being required to go into the office 10 days per quarter. During this transition, they will also be letting go of underperformers. 

BlackRock

As of September 2023, BlackRock requires its employees to work from the office three days a week.

Starbucks

In January 2023, the CEO stated that all employees within commuting distance would have to return to the office at least three days a week. 

IBM

In fall 2023, the CEO has told employees to return to the office for at least three days a week or “separate” from IBM. 

Uber

In January 2023, Uber told employees they must return to the office at least 50% of the time, meaning they can work in the office 3 days one week and 2 days the next OR 5 days one week and 0 days the next, depending on what works best for the employee and their team. Everyone also gets the chance to work from anywhere for one full month a year. 

Goldman Sachs

Back in March 2022, the company asked employees to return to the office five days a week. In October 2022, only about 65% of employees were working in the office but as of summer 2023, all revenue producing employees are back in the office. GS leadership continues to ask employees to return to the office 5 days per week. 

JP Morgan

As of Spring 2023, 60% of workers are back in the office full-time (including all managing directors), 30% returned to the office at least three days a week and 10% are fully remote. 

Disney

Back in January 2023, all employees who were working a hybrid schedule were asked to return to the office four days a week. 

Citigroup

In January 2023, employees were required to be in the office at least three days a week and up to two days remote. 

Microsoft

In February 2022, employees are allowed to work from home 50% of the time with their manager’s approval. Dawn Klinghoffer, VP of HR said “Our structured flexible work model empowers individuals, teams, and leaders to intentionally decide what works for them within the company and team guidelines.”

Now that you have a glimpse into what other companies are doing, you may be wondering if your space is ready for employees to come back. Do you need more/less space? Or are you sticking to a fully remote workstyle and need to terminate your lease? When it comes to office needs, we can help!