Another wave of return-to-office crackdowns is coming

Another wave of return-to-office crackdowns by some of the nation’s largest employers is coming.

The latest to join the bandwagon are Microsoft, Paramount and Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which within the last several days told employees to return to the office more frequently or employees could face consequences.

Microsoft on Tuesday told its employees that they will be required to do three days in the office, with the first wave starting in February. It came a day after NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast, sent a memo to its employees telling them to return to the office four days a week starting in January. Last week, Paramount told employees to return five days a week, with the first group starting in January. Both Paramount and NBCUniversal said they would offer severance packages to eligible employees that are unwilling or unable to make the switch.

“It has become increasingly clear that we are better when we are together,” Adam Miller, NBCUniversal chief operating officer said in a memo to staff, seen by the Washington Post. “As we have all experienced, in-person work and collaboration spark innovation, promote creativity, and build stronger connections.”

A weak jobs report last week showed an uptick in unemployment. Many job seekers, even some with years of experience and advanced degrees, are finding it tough to land a job. Meanwhile, employers across industries are cutting jobs amid economic uncertainty and in some cases are working to rapidly adopt artificial intelligence.

“It’s not just that employers have more power, but they’re looking to cut costs,” said Brian Elliott, publisher of the Flex Index, which tracks flexible policies, and CEO at consulting firm Work Forward. “The pendulum has swung a full 180 degrees” to giving executives the power over employees.

Companies have been cracking down on flexible work for the last several years, with Goldman Sachs being one of the first to implement a five-day office policy. Since then, others have joined in including Amazon, AT&T, JPMorgan Chase and even the federal government. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.) In some cases, the policies have caused backlash from employees, some of which have protested, filed lawsuits and even quit.

Microsoft’s policy will roll out in three phases, according to a memo from Amy Coleman, executive vice president and chief people officer. It will first affect employees located in the Puget Sound area of Washington, where the company’s headquarters is, followed by other U.S. locations and then those outside the United States. Some teams might implement different plans depending on their leadership, the memo said.

Previously, the software giant, which has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence, told employees that the standard for most roles would be to work from home for less than 50% of their time, with managers and teams deciding the details.

“We’ve looked at how our teams work best, and the data is clear: when people work together in person more often, they thrive,” Coleman’s memo read. “As we build the AI products that will define this era, we need the kind of energy and momentum that comes from smart people working side by side, solving challenging problems together.”

Microsoft’s missive came after the internal announcement from NBCUniversal, which is giving employees the option to work remotely on Fridays. NBCUniversal also advised employees to use the next four months to make “any necessary plans” to comply with the policy, and those who are unprepared to do so should “discuss your options with your HR manager,” as some employees may be eligible for severance.

Paramount said its first wave of workers required to return will be those in Los Angeles and New York. Next year, the company plans to announce plans for offices outside those cities, including those that are international.

“In-person collaboration is absolutely vital to building and strengthening our culture and driving the success of our business,” a memo from Paramount CEO David Ellison, seen by The Post, reads. “Being together helps us innovate, solve problems, share ideas, create, challenge one another, and build the relationships that will make this company great.”

Overall, the number of people working full-time in office hasn’t changed much over the past couple of years. About 61.7 percent of salaried employees worked from an office full time in August, according to data from university researchers Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, and Steven J. Davis, who are studying the matter. That is down just 1 percent from the August of last year, their research shows. That said, during the same time period, the amount of people working remotely dropped two percentage points and those working hybrid increased three percentage points.

While most of the big office pushes are coming from some of the largest employers in the nation, the majority of companies in the United States aren’t requiring full-time office work, said Elliott of Flex Index. And about half of U.S. workers are employed by smaller companies, he added. Some companies are capitalizing on the mandates, using flexible policies as a way to poach talent from their competitors, he said.

“Fear works for an amount of time, but then engagement drops,” he said. “What happens is large companies that shed talent are going to lose people to companies” that are more flexible.

Some employers are using office mandates to purposely shed workers. An August report from the Federal Reserve Bank shows that “multiple districts reported reducing headcounts through attrition – encouraged, at times, by return-to-office policies and facilitated, at times, by greater automation, including new AI tools.”

Still, with less job openings in the market, some employees may have to comply with office mandates.

“I think you’ll continue to see the steady drip, drip, drip of large companies pushing this mandate,” Elliott said. “It’ll slow down, and when and if the economy recovers the question is what are people’s willingness to go back.”