The Blubber

Dell, $DELL, said return to the office or else—nearly half of workers chose “or else."

Big tech companies are still trying to rally workers back into physical offices, but many workers remain resistant. According to a recent report, computer-maker Dell has faced even more challenges than most.

Earlier this year, Dell announced a new return-to-office initiative. In the plan, employees had to classify themselves as either remote or hybrid. Those who chose hybrid are subject to a tracking system ensuring they are in a physical office 39 days per quarter, which is close to three days per work week. Conversely, by classifying themselves as remote, workers agree they can no longer be promoted or hired into new roles within the company.

Business Insider claims it has seen internal Dell tracking data revealing nearly 50 percent of the workforce opted to accept the consequences of staying remote, undermining Dell's plan to restore its in-office culture. The publication spoke with a dozen Dell employees to understand why they chose to stay remote, and various reasons emerged. Some said they enjoyed more free time and less financial strain after going remote, and nothing could convince them to give that up. Others noted that their local offices had closed since the pandemic or that they weren't interested in promotions.

Others pointed out that it seemed pointless to go into an in-person office when their teams were already distributed across multiple locations worldwide, meaning they would mostly still be on Zoom calls. One person mentioned colleagues who had chosen hybrid reported working in mostly empty offices punctuated with video calls to others in similarly empty offices.

Many interviewees admitted they were looking for jobs at other companies that aren't trying to corral employees back into the office. Dell is not alone in this struggle. For example, Apple has also faced internal challenges and employee revolts over remote work.

Executive management at companies pushing for a return to in-person work argue that working together in a physical space allows for greater collaboration and innovation. Research on this topic has offered mixed insights, but there seems to be some consensus that remote work is accompanied by modest drops in productivity. For example, a working study at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research suggested around a 10 percent drop in productivity, even as it noted that the cost-saving benefits of remote work could offset some of that.