IBM software company has become the latest technology giant to ask its global employees to return to the office. Starting next week, employees will have to return to the office at least three days a week. The rule only applies to employees who live within 50 miles of an IBM office, but it sounds like it will eventually apply to everyone.
Kareem Yusuf, senior vice president of product management at IBM Software, and Dinesh Nirmal, senior vice president of product, revealed the news to employees in an internal blog published last week."If we want to maintain the flexibility of remote work and in-office work, we must better manage the time we come into the office," they wrote, adding that decisions on which days must be reported will be decided by managers and individual project teams.
Anyone who lives more than 50 miles from an IBM office is unlikely to make the trek. Anyone who falls into that category "is currently exempt," the two executives wrote, suggesting that one day they won't be exempt. Yusuf and Nirmal added that the order to return to office will be implemented in accordance with applicable local laws.
They said: "For our corporate culture and shared goals of tripling development output, building successful products, and winning new customers, it is essential that we spend more meaningful time together and communicate face-to-face." Amazon, Dell, Salesforce, Zoom and other companies have also issued similar statements.
"Now, 1 in 4 of you is working in the office 3 days a week. We thank you for your attention and support," Yusuf and Nirmal wrote. To help achieve this, IBM is appointing "Software Executive Focals," a term for on-site support employees who will help drive a more coordinated return to the office "across the software company."
Many companies are taking more drastic measures to get employees back into the office. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently told employees who don't want to return to the office: "This may not work for you. We also heard the boss of Zoom claiming that people can't build trust or innovate when using video calling programs like Zoom."
IBM Software may not be too worried about losing employees who refuse to return. The company was one of the first to announce a pause or slowdown in hiring for non-customer-facing roles such as human resources, as artificial intelligence can automate many tasks for these workers. CEO Arvind Krishna said he expects about 30% of the company's jobs to be replaced by artificial intelligence and automation within five years. This equates to approximately 7,800 jobs.
A recent survey found that 8 in 10 executives regret their return-to-office plans and would do things differently if they had better access to workplace data.