The era of working from home which became prevalent after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic is now being rolled back by companies. Global organisations like Amazon, TCS, Citigroup, and HSBC have asked their employees to be back five days a week in the office. Dell is the latest to call their employees for more in-person collaboration to maintain its competitive edge. In a memo sent to employees, titled “Action Required. Return to office, return to winning and taking share.”
Effective September 30, members of the global sales team, irrespective of their role have been asked to be onsite, who can work from a Dell office.
“With that in mind, starting Monday, Sept. 30th, the expectation is that ALL Global Sales team members who can work from a Dell office be onsite five days a week, regardless of role. “Field sellers who can’t go into a Dell office should prioritise time spent in person with customers and partners. Remote sales team members who can’t go into a Dell office should continue to work remotely. More communications about remote workers will be sent in the coming weeks,” read a post on Reddit.
Here is the list of companies asking their employees to return to the in-office settings:
Amazon
Announcing a significant policy change, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently confirmed discontinuing its hybrid work policy, he has asked employees to be back in the office five days a week, effective January 2, 2025.
Citigroup
In March 2024, Citigroup asked 600 of its staffers to return to the office full-time. According to an email sent by the third-largest U.S. lender, the majority of Citi employees would continue to work on a hybrid schedule, with at least three days per week in the office and up to two days remotely.
HSBC
HSBC Holdings Plc is another global organisation that is ramping up its demand for employees to be back in five days in office.
TCS
After 18 months India’s largest IT service exporter Tata Consultancy Services, reached pre-pandemic levels in the percentage of employees working from offices in July.
Interestingly, as companies are tweaking and terminating their hybrid and work-from-home policies, new Google trends suggest what is top of mind for employees.
According to Google Trends, people are increasingly searching for remote work. According to Google Trends, remote work is being searched more than ever this year, globally. Over the past month, the United States has been the top country searching for it.
The other most searched keyword is “return to office”. It is currently searched more than ever in the US and recently “return to office mandates” tripled in Google searches.
Hybrid jobs are another most searched keyword more than ever and “executive assistants” is the top trending job searched with hybrid jobs.
While companies implement stricter office mandates, employee interest in remote work and hybrid roles continues to rise, reflecting the growing tension between organisational directives and workforce preferences.