- Many major companies are requiring employees to return to the office full or part time.
- Amazon recently issued a return-to-office mandate and Salesforce has drafted one, per Insider.
- Insider compiled a running list of the companies calling employees back.
Since COVID-19 restrictions eased, many companies have been calling their employees back to the office.
Some executives and leaders believe productivity increases when workers are in the office together, while others hope to increase in-person collaboration. Some employers are taking extremes to get people back, tracking attendance or threatening to terminate workers who don't comply.
Most recently, Amazon's Andy Jassy issued a mandate for corporate staffers in a Feb 17 memo, and Salesforce's leadership has drafted a return-to-office policy, according to a draft of the company's strategic plan shared in an internal Slack message viewed by Insider.
Here's a list, in alphabetical order, of major companies requiring employees to return to offices. Insider will update this list regularly.
- Amazon
Jassy said in a February memo that he will require corporate employees to spend at least three days per week in the office beginning May 1. The CEO said he and Amazon's leadership team decided it would be easier for employees to collaborate and that in-person work would strengthen the company's culture.
In response, thousands of Amazon employees joined a Slack channel to share their thoughts about the company's surprise return-to-office mandate, with some even organizing to file a petition against the change, Insider's Eugene Kim reported.
- Apple
In August, senior leaders told workers they had to return to the office at least three days a week. CEO Tim Cook said the decision was meant to restore "in-person collaboration." Employees fought back and issued a petition shortly after the announcement, arguing that staffers can do "exceptional work" from home.
- Citigroup
Vaccinated Citigroup employees across the US were asked to return to the office for at least two days a week in March 2022, an internal memo obtained by Reuters said.
- Disney
In a memo obtained by Insider, CEO Bob Iger told workers that starting in March, any Disney staff member working "in a hybrid fashion" will need to return to Disney's offices four days a week.
- Goldman Sachs
In March, CEO David Solomon told Fortune that the company was asking employees to return to the office five days a week. In October, he told CNBC that about 65% of staffers were working in the office.
Google employees in the San Francisco Bay Area and "several other US locations" were told to return to the office for at least three days a week starting in April 2022.
- JPMorgan
In August, CEO Jamie Dimon pushed back on remote work, saying it didn't work for an apprenticeship program or "spontaneous stuff," Yahoo Finance reported.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan asked half of its employees to return to the office five days a week and another 40% to go in a few days a week. The company has been collecting data on staff activity, including tracking attendance.
- Salesforce
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has made revisions to the company's annual strategic plan, including return-to-office mandates, according to a draft of the document shared in an internal Slack message viewed by Insider. In February 2021, Salesforce said workers could "work from anywhere."
The updated draft return-to-office policy would require three days a week in the office for nonremote employees and four days a week for employees in "non-remote" and "customer-facing" roles. Engineers would be required to work from the office 10 days per quarter, down from 20 in the initial draft, which was updated based on employee feedback.
- Starbucks
In a memo to corporate staffers, CEO Howard Schultz said employees within commuting distance would be required to return to the office at least three days a week starting January 31. In August, Schultz said he was doing everything he could to get workers in the office.
After buying Twitter in October, Elon Musk told employees in November that not showing up to an office when they're able to was the same as a resignation, The Verge reported.
Musk also told staffers in an email that remote work was no longer allowed and that employees were expected to be in the office for at least 40 hours a week unless given explicit approval to work elsewhere.
Read more: Elon Musk tells Twitter employees to return to the office or their resignations will be accepted
- Uber
In a memo obtained by Insider, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees that beginning in April 2022, Uber staffers in 35 of the company's locations were required to return to the office at least half the time. He added that on other days staffers were allowed to work remotely and that some could be entirely remote if they get clearance from their managers.
An earlier version of this story appeared on January 16, 2023.