Mumbai, April 14: Work from home has been a popular model in the tech industry since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. The tech industry was among the first to allow remote work to employees to stop the spread of the virus. Following these companies, many other sectors permitted their employees to embrace the WFH model and continue their work during the pandemic. However, now the tech giants are reportedly making it compulsory for employees to work from the office.
According to a report by Indian Express, ten tech giants, including Amazon, IBM, Google, and others, started revoking the 'work from home' policy. The report said these companies ended remote work and called the staff to come to the office. Meta, Dell, Infosys, Activision Blizzard, Tata Consultancy Services, Rockstar, and HCL are the other companies that told employees to start working from the office. Tesla Considering Layoffs? Employees Fear Job Cuts at Austin Gigafactory and Fremont Factory.
Amazon reportedly called employees back to the three-day office starting in May 2023. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that those unwilling to return to the office can simply quit their jobs. Mark Zuckerberg's Meta mandated that employees work from the office for three days per week. Meta reportedly started an "In-Person Time Policy" for those not abiding. Previously, the report said that Meta stated to offer WFH up to 2030.
In June 2023, the tech giant Google reportedly announced that employees who lived nearby had to come to the office and adopt hybrid schedules. The WFH request was reportedly accepted by the company by "exception." Dell changed its decision from a friendly WFH policy and also told the employees to adopt the three-day work per week starting from May 2023.
Indian IT companies, including Infosys, TCS and HCL, also revoked their work-from-home model and preferred that employees return to the office. Infosys told employees to come for ten days to the office in a month from November 2023, HCL introduced a new hybrid work policy in mid-February 2024, and Tata Consultancy Services reportedly sent final directives saying WFH made employees and employers "vulnerable". Checkr Layoffs 2024: Employee Background-Screening Firm Announces To Lay Off 92 Employees From Denver Facility in US on June 10.
Other companies like Rockstar, IBM and Activision Blizzard joined the above companies and called employees back to the office. Rockstar mandated working from the office, addressing productivity and security concerns amid the development of the GTA 6 video game release. In January 2024, an ultimatum was issued by IBM, calling for employees to return to the office by August or quit. Activision Blizzard said that it would prefer full-time work from the office.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 14, 2024 03:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).