Labor Day Was a ‘Line in the Sand’ For Bringing Workers Back to Office, Report Suggests

WASHINGTON–Labor Day earlier this week was a “line in the corporate sand” for many employers when it comes to bringing all of their workers back to the office, according to a new report that addresses an issue with which many credit unions are also wrestling.

“After months of encouraging white-collar employees to return, or attempting to coax them back with free pizza, warm cookies and catered lunches, many executives now say they feel emboldened to take a tougher stance,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “No longer can workers merely come to the office if they so choose; this fall, executives say, attendance is expected and the office resisters will be put on notice.”

The Journal said employers that include Apple, Prudential Financial and BMO Financial Group plan broader September returns at their U.S. offices, while companies that include Ally Financial have sent notes in recent weeks reminding workers to come into the office consistently. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it was lifting all vaccination and other requirements to enter most of its offices after Labor Day, eliminating a final barrier to a full return, the Journal added, stating Marriott also recently opened gleaming new office spaces with the hope—and expectation—that workers will use them.

“Many executives say that, with schools in session and the weather still warm, a post-Labor Day return is their best hope at getting workers on a more regular office schedule before the fall and winter holidays,” the Journal reported. “With Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in decline and the death rate lower, workers say they are growing accustomed to living with the risk of the virus, making it less of a deterrent to office work. Bosses also feel emboldened to step up demands as signs emerge that the economy is weakening.”

Additional Findings

The report added:

• Fears of a recession or job cuts could give employers an upper hand, but some remain reluctant to tell workers they will be fired for not showing up.
  
  
• Companies are arming themselves with new data that help to bolster their case for in-person work, including some that have linked identification-badge swipe data with separate metrics to show whether employees who go to the office regularly are more productive and engaged, according to Qualtrics, recounting an experience of one of the company’s clients.
  
  
• Some companies say they have had success in trying to balance all preferences. The Journal said Audio giant Spotify Technology SA said its roughly 8,600 employees, who have been largely remote during the pandemic, returned in recent months in larger numbers than the company expected. That is partly because it hasn’t forced them to do so, Katarina Berg, Spotify’s human-resources chief, told the Journal.

One Company’s Example

Among the companies profiled by the Journal was Postal.io, where CEO Erik Kostelnik called his workers back three days a week to the company’s headquarters in San Luis Obispo, Calif., in mid-August. Workers who live within commuting distance, which is about half of the company’s 120 employees, don’t get to choose which days they go in: it’s Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays, the Journal said.

“If you don’t have a standardized time of when you’re in the office and when you have core working hours, it becomes too loose,” Kostelnik told the Journal.

The report added that when everyone was working remotely earlier in the pandemic,  Kostelnik said he found that his “A players” were self-sufficient and thriving but his B and C players weren’t benefiting from the knowledge and experience of their colleagues.