Once a champion of WFH, Dell backtracks on remote work

CEO Michael Dell, once a proponent of remote work, now argues for in-person interactions.
Dell Technologies is the latest company to issue a return-to-office mandate to employees as it begins “retiring” its hybrid policy next month.
The company had been in the process of easing workers back into the office before it ultimately rolled out the five-day schedule for onsite work. Full-time in-office work will commence on 3 March.
CEO Michael Dell explained the rationale behind the RTO mandate.
“For all the technology in the world, nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction,” he said in a memo seen by Business Insider.
The executive added how a “30-second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days”.
While the policy is being implemented across the organisation, it does take a nuanced approach. Employees who live less than an hour away from work are expected to report daily at designated offices, but those who live farther may opt out of in-office work.
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However, staff who choose to continue in a remote work setup will not be eligible for promotion during annual compensation reviews – unless approved by senior executives such as the COO.
“We’ve already asked our sales teams, manufacturing teams, engineers in the labs, onsite team members and leaders to be in the office five days a week, and we have seen these areas come alive with new speed, energy, and passion,” Dell said.
“Now, we want to see that same sense of urgency and drive everywhere.”
Anticipating an influx of queries about the policy, Dell told employees to hold their questions for now.
“We’re still working through details, and additional information will be available soon,” he said.
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CEO Michael Dell backtracks on remote work opinion
The RTO policy takes a 180-degree turn from the statements Dell the CEO made in 2022, when he highlighted the company’s decision to let staff continue working from home.
“At Dell, we found no meaningful differences for team members working remotely or office-based even before the pandemic forced everyone home,” Dell said at the time.
“The perception of unequal opportunity is just one of the myths of hybrid work that our Chief Human Resources Officer Jenn Saavedra recently busted when she shared how it’s working for us,” he said.
In that same statement, posted on LinkedIn, the CEO reflected on other employers who were calling staff back to the office.
“Even several of my fellow tech industry CEOs have pushed to get their teams back into physical offices ‘to engage more fully’ or be a more visible presence,” Dell said.
“But from my experience, if you are counting on forced hours spent in a traditional office to create collaboration and provide a feeling of belonging within your organisation, you’re doing it wrong.
“Technology’s ability to create a do-anything-from-anywhere world, where work is an outcome rather than a place or time, also enables you to create a strong corporate culture anywhere, all the time,” he said.
But while, in 2022, an internal survey by Dell showed 80% of its employees were enthusiastic about WFH – believing that working remotely would create a more inclusive environment – a 2024 internal poll revealed staff morale had declined because of widescale job cuts and RTO mandates.
From 98,000 responses, Dell’s employee net promoter score decreased from 62 to 48.