CEO Sent Email To Staff Requiring Them To Return To The Office 5 Days A Week Because ‘This Is A Company For Grown-Ups’
Employees were told that if they didn't like the return-to-office mandate, they were more than welcome to find another job.
PeopleImages.com - Yuri A | Shutterstock One of the biggest impressions that the pandemic left was the change from being in the office to working from home. In a survey conducted by USA Today, 33% of respondents work remotely, and 33% work in a hybrid work environment.
However, 36% of respondents would prefer working from home full-time instead of having a hybrid schedule, and 41% of respondents would be willing to consider a full-time, remote position if they were looking for a new position.
Despite the popularity of remote work among employees, CEOs and business execs do not feel the same way, and the CEO of a tech company made sure his employees knew that.
A CEO sent an email to his staff requiring them to return to the office 5 days a week because 'this is a company for grown-ups.'
In an email to employees, Carl Pei, the CEO of Smartphone maker Nothing, told his staff that they need to come into the office five days a week. Pei suggested that if anyone was unhappy about that, they should find another job. Pei, who also posted about it on his LinkedIn page, admitted that the move from hybrid working to fully in-person work at the company's London office would be "controversial."
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"I know this is a controversial decision that may not be a fit for everyone, and there are definitely companies out there that thrive in remote or hybrid setups. But that’s not right for our type of business and won’t help us fully realize our potential as a company," Pei claimed.
"This is a company for grown-ups, so if you need to be out of office to deal with some issues, we trust you to make the right decision," he added.
He insisted that he wanted the company to have employees and find potential ones who were eager to grow with them and build for the future ahead.
The CEO's return-to-office mandate received criticism, especially since the company had been built with a remote model.
Pei's actions received a bit of criticism, especially considering remote work is incredibly convenient for people with responsibilities like caring for children.
This was pointed out by a content creator named Kiki May, who was unimpressed with the wording that Pei used to address his employees, including using the word "grown-ups," which she insisted was not something people ever use to address other adults.
"Remote work is a DEI issue, and if you are unwilling to provide some sort of flexibility in your working environment, then you are not creating an equitable and inclusive space for your employees," she argued. "It's really easy for CEOs and other senior executives living in their multi-million dollar homes to say 'if you don't like it, just quit.'"
"They're completely disconnected from the reality that people are only working in these jobs because they have no other choice," she added. "We cannot escape the exploitative system of capitalism."
Bosses apparently want to work from home more than their employees but still enforce return-to-work mandates.
Many bosses want to work from home as much as, if not more than, their employees do, according to a new survey of 3,000 American workers and managers from software firm Checkr. The survey found that 68% of bosses, a group that includes middle managers, executives, and business owners, would like remote work to continue in 2024, while less than half (48%) of employees feel the same.
Similarly, more than 80% of executives and non-executives want flexibility in where they work, including a majority (56%) of those in the office full-time, per Future Forum’s February 2023 pulse survey.
More often than not, we hear stories of CEOs like Pei who demand their employees return to the office while they are allowed the luxury of being able to work from home.
Or, their multi-million dollar salaries allow them to hire the necessary staff, like childcare, to watch their children while they go to the office. Their rich lifestyles can afford them the flexibility and availability of being in the office for 5 days a week, but that is not the same reality for their employees.
Nothing says we don't care about you and your struggles, like forcing an entirely remote or hybrid workforce to suddenly start commuting to work, and frankly, no one should want to work for a CEO who exhibits that kind of behavior. If Pei truly wanted to be transparent, he'd call this RTO what it truly is — layoffs in disguise.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.