COMP NEWS – Following the slew of companies recalling workers back to offices, Dell has mandated its employees to do the same. Those that don’t will sacrifice raises and promotions. But internal data shows defiance among workers – with 50% of them refusing to return to the office.
Remote working is the new norm for many white-collar workers, but their bosses still aren’t on board.
Rather than accept the shift in working culture, some employers have resorted to strict mandates and punitive policies to get employees back in the office.
Dell has been trying its best to do the same.
In February, the tech giant introduced a return-to-office mandate, telling workers to formally classify themselves as either hybrid or remote.
Those who chose remote are no longer eligible for promotion or able to change roles. Meanwhile, hybrid workers must come into the office 39 days a quarter, roughly three days a week, and their attendance is monitored using a color-coded system.
Several months after this RTO policy was announced, it appears it hasn’t worked.
Close to 50% of Dell’s full-time workers in the US have opted to stay remote, according to internal data on the entire full-time workforce seen by Business Insider.
Some staff report an inability to return to any office, due to Dell closing down numerous facilities over the past 4 years.
Some staff said they had no choice but to classify as remote because offices nearby had been shut down or were too far away to commute to.
“Dell closed down the facility in 2020 that I worked at, so I have no office to return to,” one worker explained.
But with teams spread across multiple states and time zones, some of those who did live near an office felt it was pointless to show up.
“The particular work I’m doing now means I don’t really have a ‘team,’ and the people I work with most are at different sites,” one employee told BI.
Another staffer on a global team said their schedule required the flexibility of working from home: “I am not going to work eight hours in a Dell office and then come home and work three more hours in meetings with my folks in India or Malaysia.”
To read more about Dell’s return-to-office struggle, click here.
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