From Flexible to Forced
The announcement is unlikely to surprise too many Dell staff or anybody who has been tracking the company’s shifting policies over the last couple of years, despite its reassurances that it holds a flexible ethos.
Way back in August 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic, a Dell executive said that they imagined that “60 percent of our workforce will stay remote or have a hybrid schedule where they work from home mostly and come into the office one or two days a week”.
By May 2023, it became one of a number of companies that ordered staff back to the office as the impact of the pandemic waned, requiring employees living within an hour of a major Dell office to come in a minimum of three days per week.
A revised RTO mandate came into effect this time last year that specified in-office attendance of 39 days per quarter, applying to all staff. But it became clear over the course of the year that Dell’s remote workers would be disadvantaged, with in-office employees receiving incentives and a greater chance of earning promotions.
Despite a backlash from staff, the direction of travel has been obvious – culminating in members of Dell’s Global Sales Team being forced back into the office five days a week from last September.
