Mary Barra, chair and chief executive of General Motors.
Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg via Getty Images
General Motors is calling workers back to the office, ending once-and-for-all Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra’s “Work Appropriately” policy that gave people flexibility to stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Barra sent a memo to staff Tuesday saying employees must commute into GM Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week if they live within 50 miles of a GM office, a spokesperson confirmed. Some top executives live out of state and it will be up to Barra if they have to go in to their offices, the spokesperson said.
“Effective January 8, 2024, we are providing more clarity on our three-day a week return to office policy. Hybrid employees need to be in the office Tuesday through Thursday in order to meet critical business needs and retain company culture,” GM said in a statement.
Companies have struggled to get workers to voluntarily return to the office. Last year, GM mandated people go back in three days a week, but pushback from staff convinced management to allow departments to determine their own policies, with some allowing workers to maintain remote options.
More big employers have tightened the screws by requiring more days on site, or removing the freedom to choose which days people can stay remote. Among companies with some sort of hybrid-work plan, three days in the office is the most common, according to an index of more than 5,500 firms maintained by Scoop Technologies, a flex-work adviser.
Rival Ford Motor Co. still maintains a flexible hybrid policy that doesn’t require workers to come to the office for a specific number of days a week. They only need to come to the office for group meetings. The company uses a “hoteling” model, where instead of permanent desks, people reserve them.
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