More and more Dell employees are opting out of working from the office after the company implemented strict mandates and punitive policies to bring employees back to the office.
In February, Dell introduced a return-to-office mandate, requiring employees to formally classify themselves as either hybrid or remote. The company stated that employees choosing to work from home would not be eligible for promotion or role changes. For hybrid workers, the company mandated attendance in the office for 39 days per quarter, approximately three days a week, and said their attendance would be monitored using a color-coded system. Internal data revealed that almost 50% of Dell’s full-time US workers have opted to stay remote, according to Business Insider.
This means these employees will not be eligible for promotion, while around a third of international staff also chose to stay remote
This means these employees will not be eligible for promotion, while around a third of international staff also chose to stay remote. The company stated, as per the report, that it believes “in-person connections paired with a flexible approach are critical to drive innovation and value differentiation.”
One worker told the outlet, “My team is spread out around the world. Almost 90% of the team did the same as in our case there was no real advantage going to the office.”
Another employee mentioned that the personal and financial benefits of working remotely were too significant to give up. They said, “I benefited a lot from being WFH since 2020 and had a lot of personal growth. I’m not willing to give that up if I don’t have to,” adding that before Covid, their life “was basically home and work,” and nothing else.
“The more time I have to spend in the office, the less time, money, and personal space I have for all of that. I can do my job just as well from home and have all of those personal benefits as well,” they said, while another cited the cost of commuting as a reason to skip working from the office, “With the salary that we are receiving, a return to the office would leave a huge hole in our budget.” A staffer on the global team of the company said, “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.”