In the beginning, employees were in the office 5 days a week, usually from 9am to 5pm.
Then a few years ago, everyone was forced to change that habit and work remotely for a couple of years. Surprisingly, employees were either just as effective or even more effective at home.
Lots of CEOs publicly remarked how their teams were champions working remotely.
Then the claw-back started.
Companies started to impose a soft hybrid approach (work from home 2-3 times a week, and be in the office for the remaining days), or a strict return-to-the-office-tomorrow-or-lose-your-job approach. *cough* Elon Musk *cough*
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, took and interesting approach. He required employees to be in the office 3 days a week and then bribed them for more. In exchange for each day they worked in the office, Salesforce would donate $10 to a charity.
Last week at Dreamforce 23, Benioff told a reporter, “well, I’m a remote worker. I’ve always been a remote worker my whole life. I don’t work well in an office. It just doesn’t work for my personality.”
Ummm… what?
So the rules are different for him than for everyone else in the company?!
The takeaway
The reality of the situation is that people are complex. Some work well in the office, while some don’t. Some prefer a mixed approach and some want to make their own decisions.
Let’s not decide policy with a sweeping brush and let’s not have different rules for different people. Respect workers’ decision for what works best for themselves.
PS. If you’re interested in reading the entire article Marc Benioff drops a bomb after calling Salesforce workers back to their desks