Over the past year, Dell (DELL) has been in a tense tug-of-war with its employees over a policy that has sparked controversy in workplaces across the country.
In February last year, the tech company began mandating most of its employees to work from the office three days a week for a minimum of 39 days each quarter.
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The rollout of the mandate, however, allegedly didn’t go smoothly. Some Dell employees claimed that they were given no direction on which offices to report to and believed that the mandate was a layoff in disguise.
Related: Dell employees claim new return-to-office policy is a quiet layoff
The following month, Dell began tracking workers via their badge swipes and VPN connections to monitor how often they worked from its office locations. However, it was later reported that some employees were ignoring the mandate because they weren’t afraid of losing out on job promotions, as there were allegedly a lack of opportunities at the company.
By September, Dell began previewing a major change in its workplace. It sent a memo to its sales team informing them that they will be expected to return to the office five days a week by the end of the month “regardless of role.”
Dell rolls back a major privilege employees love
Now, Dell has expanded that change company-wide. Dell CEO Michael Dell just sent a memo to employees warning them that starting in March, all staff members who live within an hour away from offices will be required to fully return to the office, according to a new report from Business Insider.
“Starting March 3, all hybrid and remote team members who live near a Dell office will work in the office five days a week,” said Dell in the memo. “We are retiring the hybrid policy effective that day.”
An employee at computer giant Dell arrives for work at the plant in Raheen, Co Limerick.Â
Niall Carson – PA Images/Getty Images
Dell currently has 41 offices across the nation, and many locations are in Texas and Massachusetts. Dell workers who live a long distance from an office location will be allowed to continue to work remotely.
The CEO also said in the memo that the reason the company was cutting remote and hybrid work was due to the fast pace of innovation in the tech industry.
Related: Dell has a rude awakening for employees over return to office
“The pace of innovation has never been faster, and for us to lead, the speed of our business must continue to accelerate,” said Dell. “What we’re finding is that for all the technology in the world, nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction. A thirty second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days.”
Dell also claimed that after previously asking several different teams to return to the office five days a week, the company has seen those teams “come alive with new speed, energy, and passion.”
Dell’s latest move follows a growing trend in corporate America
The move from Dell comes after Amazon began requiring its employees to work from the office five days a week on Jan. 2. The move sparked backlash from employees, with some even claiming that they will be searching for a new job as a result of the policy.
More Labor:
Goldman Sachs defends a work policy shareholders fearAmazon’s new return-to-office mandate is starting to backfireWalmart shareholders fire back at controversial policy change
The push for a return to in-person work full time also recently gained a powerful supporter. On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating all federal agencies to order their employees to return working in the office full time.
Even after the Covid pandemic, which increased the popularity of working from home, remote work is still widespread in corporate America. According to a recent survey from Pew Research Center, 75% of employed adult Americans said that they are working remotely at least some of the time.
Also, 46% said that if their company no longer allowed them to work from home, it would be unlikely that they would remain at their current job.Â
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