Since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, many companies have restructured the working setup for their employees, allowing a work-from-home (WFH) setup, or hybrid, a mixture of office and WFH.
Somehow, the global pandemic has become a “blessing in disguise” for these workers because they can save time during the commute or travel, and money with the WFH setup. It also allowed them to spend more time with their family at home.
One of the several companies that adopted this working setup is Dell. In 2021, during the height of the pandemic, Dell’s top executives seemed to have told their employees they could work from home for long. Many of Dell’s staff started working strictly from home during COVID-19. The company even provided its workers with equipment to do their jobs remotely.
More so, during that time, Dell’s chief operating officer, Jeff Clarke, said this decision was an “investment” that the company would just keep their employees working from home rather than summon them back to the office.
“After all of this investment to enable remote everything, we will never go back to the way things were before,” Clarke stated in a Q2 2021 earnings call.
He added that, on an ongoing basis, Dell expects 60 percent of their workforce to stay in the WFH setup or have a hybrid schedule where they work from home and just report to the office once or twice a week.
Even Dell’s chief executive officer Michael Dell echoed this. On LinkedIn, the company bragged about its productivity reaching an all-time high, adding that forced office work is “doing it wrong.”
“Sharing some thoughts on the future of work, including the importance of culture along with some data from our own experience. #PlayNiceButWin,” the CEO said on LinkedIn, posting a WFH photo.
But things are about to change for Dell’s employees – again. Clarked has already informed the employees via email this week that they would have to come back to the office three days a week. Of course, many were disappointed, especially since there were previous statements from Dell’s executives saying that the WFH setup would stay. Some employees even said they would rather quit than return to the office.
However, Clarke clarified that it will be a gradual transition. Employees still have the freedom to choose and work things out concerning their schedules.
The new ruling also only applies to employees within an hour’s distance of the nearest Dell office facility. Employees can also choose which days of the week they will report to the office, provided there should be three office days.
Employees have various reasons why they prefer the WFH setup, including fewer amenities in the office, no child care, inadequate parking, shared workspaces, insufficient resources, and more.
“We know many of us have arranged our lives around remote work over the past three years,” Clarke said in an internal memo seen by technology new website, The Register. “This is not a light switch transition. We understand it will take time to prepare and adjust to being in the office more regularly again. This is the beginning of us more clearly defining hybrid work for our company.
