September 12, 2022
September 12, 2022
Photo by Alex Kotliarskyi on Unsplash
Bringing workers back to in-office work environments has been a big question mark since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. While some large companies like Twitter initially planned to let employees work from home “forever,” Google, Apple, and Twitter all announced plans to bring workers back to the office in 2022. Whether on a full-time or hybrid basis, return to the office has some definite challenges for employees and employers.
While mask mandates have mostly dropped, COVID variants are still popping up, causing concern. Workers who pivoted to work-from-home in early 2020 will have a lot of arrangements to prepare for a smooth return to the office. Pet care, child-care, work wardrobe, and return to commuting after almost two years of working without these extra responsibilities and costs takes planning.
Some workers may welcome a return to working in the office, while others may not appreciate mandates to come back on-site. Here’s what we know so far.
Like many employers, Apple had planned to bring employees back to the office in early 2022. Those plans were delayed due to several COVID-19 spikes. New plans announced in early August 2022 call for employees to work in the office three days a week starting in September.
Other return-to-office changes the tech company has made include dropping mask mandates for common areas and holding the first in-person gathering since 2019. The September return-to-office announcement is most likely because Apple has several new product launches in September. Apple CEO Tim Cook claims in-person collaboration is essential to the company’s culture.
Apple employees aren’t very happy about it. An employee group called Apple Together has organized an effort to try to convince management that there are compelling reasons not to implement a uniform return-to-office mandate. They started a petition to demand to alternatively work with immediate managers on working arrangements.
Apple employees have been opposed to returning to the office, with 76 percent responding negatively about it in recent surveys. With other CEOs declaring an end to remote work, including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Goldman Sachs David Solomon, Apple may be on the right trend. But a three-day in-office requirement is not a full end to remote work.
Search engine giant Google is also facing opposition from employees to a return to in-office work. A June 6, 2022 return date was delayed until September 6th. Like Apple workers, Google workers signed a petition opposing a return to office amid continuing COVID fears and higher gas prices. Better productivity and morale were additional reasons given in the petition.
COVID concerns underline the return-to-office policies and concerns. Those returning to Google’s offices to work must be fully vaccinated or be approved for exemption. Unvaccinated workers have the option to either get vaccinated or apply for permanent remote roles or remote work extensions. The mask mandate has been dropped for fully vaccinated employees.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai knows that companies must work with employees for a successful return to office. Pichai says there has to be a better purpose for return to office than just wanting employees in one place for easier managing. Management should focus on the benefits of bringing the workforce back on-site.
Pichai advocates for flexibility and choice in the future of work. He says that while there may always be tensions between managers and employees about the best ways to work, when there is purpose, flexibility, and choice, it builds community and collaboration.
Social media giant Twitter announced early in the pandemic a work from home forever policy that was challenged when Tesla CEO Elon Musk bid to buy the company and said employees needed to return to the office. That challenge didn’t exactly stick, as Musk is trying to pull out of the purchase and the deal is in litigation. But it appears that Twitter employees can indeed “work from home forever” as the company goes through office closings and other belt-tightening initiatives that do not include layoffs or reduction in force.
Cutting back on physical offices in global markets means a more solid stance on a remote workforce. Twitter is closing offices in New York, Sydney, and San Francisco, and letting leases expire in Japan, Germany, Spain, Korea, and The Netherlands. Corporate spaces in other countries will be reduced, without impacting Twitter employees’ jobs.
Twitter’s real estate cuts have influenced other big tech companies and are impacting the office real estate market in San Francisco. Twitter cites global economic factors for its office closing decisions, as well as cuts in marketing, corporate travel, and employee spending. It may have started a trend toward more remote work, rather than the seeming push for return to office in fall 2022.
While major corporations have tried and are still trying to bring back their workforces to the office in 2022, that may not actually happen. Twitter appears to be on the cutting edge of “work from home forever” with its public announcements supporting remote work and office closings. Other big tech companies seem to be following the lead with office closings at least. Many CEOs and companies are taking a more moderate approach with hybrid options.
With COVID concerns still looming, and expected surges for fall, return to office mandates may not be the best approach to successful workforce management in 2022.