Dell Abruptly Cancels Work-From-Home Policy
Dell sent employees into panic mode last week by mandating they return to the office five days a week – and gave them just a few days to comply.
The company sent its sales team a memo on September 26, a Thursday, requiring employees to return to full-time by Monday.
“The expectation is that ALL Global Sales team members who can work from a Dell office be on-site five days a week, regardless of role,” the internal memo from sales chiefs Bill Scannell and John Byrne said, according to Business Insider.
It left parents scrambling to get their children into childcare and make arrangements for the older children to attend after-school programmes.
“The biggest thing that I saw from just being in the office that day was parents freaking out,” a Dell sales employee told BI. “It’s one thing to already have childcare set up and already having to pay that crazy amount, but having a weekend to figure it out…”
Scannell and Byrne acknowledged in the memo that workers “may need some time to make new arrangements,” but did not provide details or specific exceptions that could be made.
“We continually evolve our business so we’re set up to deliver the best innovation, value and service to our customers and partners,” a Dell spokesperson told The New York Post. “That includes more in-person connection to drive market leadership.”
Back in February, Dell had reportedly told its salespeople that they could choose between hybrid or remote work. The hybrid policy took effect in May. Hybrid staffers needed to be in the office about three days a week.
The abrupt directive to return to the office five days a week wasn’t well received by all. “I’m on a waiting list, and I don’t have an option to put these kids in full-time,” one employee said regarding efforts to enroll for childcare. “They have to have all these finalized before the year starts, and the next enrollment isn’t until December or even when summer starts.”
Multiple employees said they had heard from managers that the policy would be rolled out to other departments too beyond sales.
In a similar move, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy too Amazon recently ordered employees to return to the office five days a week. Employees already had to work three days a week from the office. In the case of Amazon though, Jassy gave employees until January 2, 2025 to adapt to the new change in policy.
As with Dell, Amazon employees too expressed dissatisfaction with the mandate to return to the office full-time. A survey that has been circulated internally among the employees finds that the average employee at the company is “strongly dissatisfied” with the return-to-office edict. You can read more about that survey on ChannelNews here.