'The office is not dead': Seven tech bosses on office vs WFH debate
Return-to-work is dividing tech providers large and small. With Boris Johnson urging staff back to the office, CRN summarises the contrasting approaches of seven tech firms on this thorny topic...
With the government this week launching a back-to-work campaign, how quickly - or whether at all - to return staff to offices is the white-hot topic dominating debate.
Only 20 per cent of voters in a CRN poll published on Friday said they expect to be in the office predominantly in September.
This compares with 29 per cent who expect to be in "one or two days" a week and 44 per cent who expect to be in only "sporadically". Some eight per cent expect to work from home every day.
It's the talking point that's splitting the tech world. While some tech giants aren't even opening offices until next year and are happy to let their staff call the shots, others believe a lack of face-to-face contact between their staff is stunting their creativity.
Here we round up how seven prominent tech firms - from Silicon Valley giants to UK solution providers - are approaching the thorny topic.
Dell Technologies
Headcount: 165,000
Commenter: Jeff Clarke, COO
Quote: "Here at Dell, we expect, on an ongoing basis, that 60 per cent of our workforce will stay remote or have a hybrid schedule where they work from home mostly and come into the office one or two days a week."
Context:
Clarke firmly nailed Dell's colours to the remote working mast last week during the hardware vendor's Q3 earnings call.
In moving to a hybrid working model, Dell is clearly mirroring its customers, Clarke said, holding up recent data shows that work from home is likely to increase by 20 points across all-size companies across all sectors.
"I think that is understated," the COO added.
Like most tech companies, Dell has been a beneficiary of the mass shift to remote working, helping - for instance - a major EMEA bank move 200,000 of its 280,000 employees to work from home using VMware technology in its latest quarter.
'Why spend two hours commuting five days a week' - see next page for Capita CEO's views on remote working...
'The office is not dead': Seven tech bosses on office vs WFH debate
Return-to-work is dividing tech providers large and small. With Boris Johnson urging staff back to the office, CRN summarises the contrasting approaches of seven tech firms on this thorny topic...
Capita
Headcount: 45,000
Commenter: Jon Lewis, CEO
Quote: "Why would you spend up to two hours a day commuting into and from a central London office five days a week when you can work just as effectively at home?"
Context:
Lewis' quote above - taken from an Evening Standard article from mid August - preceded the bombshell that Capita is reportedly to close over a third of its offices permanently.
Capita moved 85 per cent of its 45,000 staff to remote working model during the pandemic and had already decided not to renew leases on 25 of its properties.
But in what would be a blow to the government's back-to-work campaign, the outsourcing giant is preparing to close up to 100 of its UK offices under its latest plans - dubbed the ‘New Hybrid Norm' - according to a Daily Mail article on Friday.
Find out why Trivago's CEO is on a push to get staff to return to the office on the next page...
'The office is not dead': Seven tech bosses on office vs WFH debate
Return-to-work is dividing tech providers large and small. With Boris Johnson urging staff back to the office, CRN summarises the contrasting approaches of seven tech firms on this thorny topic...
Trivago
Headcount: 1,320
Commenter: Axel Hefer, CEO
Quote: "The last time companies have tried in the last big wave of, 'OK, let's do remote work,' most of those concepts have failed."
Context:
In an interview with Business Insider last week, Hefer argued that meetings are best done in person if they require creativity or big decisions must be made.
"That's why I'm always smiling when I'm reading Facebook does this, Twitter does that, and Allianz does this. How do you actually balance one and the other, and to be honest, I don't think anybody knows," Hefer added.
His comments came as the German travel comparison site launched a ‘hybrid' workplace model that will see staff come to the office for ‘homecomings' once a month.
Trivago's strategy has been contrasted with that of other tech giants including Twitter, Google and Salesforce, who are giving employees the option of whether to work from home or office for an extended period.
'We won't be forcing anyone back' - find out why SysGroup's CEO is giving staff the choice to continue working from home on the next page...
'The office is not dead': Seven tech bosses on office vs WFH debate
Return-to-work is dividing tech providers large and small. With Boris Johnson urging staff back to the office, CRN summarises the contrasting approaches of seven tech firms on this thorny topic...
SysGroup
Headcount: 120
Commenter: Adam Binks, CEO
Quote: "91 per cent [of staff] are happy to continue to work from home - either for the next three months, or permanently. Our plan at the moment is to reopen our offices on 1 October. That will be for people who want to come back to work. We won't be forcing anyone to come back to work."
Context:
SysGroup's CEO told CRN in July that the Liverpool-based MSP would be "taking the Twitter approach" by giving staff the option to work from home - even in the long run.
It's too early to say whether all five of SysGroup's offices in Liverpool, London, Newport, Bristol and Telford will be needed long term, Binks added.
"It's only as we start to come out the other side that we'll be able to address the question: do we actually need an office? I think to some degree there's always going to be a requirement for one - maybe two. Do we need them all? That's the big I can't answer at the moment," he said.
See next page for why Satya Nadella thinks having everyone WFH risks "burning social capital" ...
'The office is not dead': Seven tech bosses on office vs WFH debate
Return-to-work is dividing tech providers large and small. With Boris Johnson urging staff back to the office, CRN summarises the contrasting approaches of seven tech firms on this thorny topic...
Microsoft
Headcount: 156,000
Commenter: Satya Nadella, CEO
Quote: "What does mental health look like? What does that connectivity and the community building look like? One of the things I feel is, hey, maybe we are burning some of the social capital we built up in this phase where we are all working remote. What's the measure for that?"
Context:
In an interview with the New York Times in May, Nadella admitted that he missed walking into a physical meeting and talking to the person sat next to you.
Microsoft's raw productivity stats have gone up during lockdown, he added, however.
Despite Nadella's misgivings about remote working, Microsoft isn't in any rush to force staff back, with a report on The Verge a month ago claiming the software giant has ringed 19 January 2021 as the earliest possible date for its US offices to open.
Find out why Salesforce is letting its staff work from home until at least August 2021 on the next page...
'The office is not dead': Seven tech bosses on office vs WFH debate
Return-to-work is dividing tech providers large and small. With Boris Johnson urging staff back to the office, CRN summarises the contrasting approaches of seven tech firms on this thorny topic...
Salesforce
Headcount: 49,000
Commenter: Amy Weaver, president and chief legal officer
Quote: "Regardless of if their office has reopened, all employees have the option to work from home through at least July 31, 2021."
Context:
Last month, Salesforce became the latest tech giant to take the ‘Twitter approach' to remote working by giving staff the option to continue WFH for an extended period.
Despite this, Weaver revealed in a recent blog that Salesforce has started to reopen more than 30 offices across Asia Pacific, Europe and Canada (but - notably - not in its native US).
In an added boost for staff, Salesforce is also stumping up $250 to help fund office tools and equipment for home workers - in addition to the $250 provided earlier in the year.
"We understand that moving our offices to our homes is not always easy or comfortable — especially for those with families at home or for those who are feeling isolated — and we're working hard to address the unique needs of our employees during this time," chief people officer Brent Hyder said in a blog post.
Find out why Cancom UK's boss is a "big advocate" of the value of offices on the next page...
'The office is not dead': Seven tech bosses on office vs WFH debate
Return-to-work is dividing tech providers large and small. With Boris Johnson urging staff back to the office, CRN summarises the contrasting approaches of seven tech firms on this thorny topic...
Cancom UK
Commenter: Martin Hess, managing director
Quote: "I think we need offices. I think there's been a lot of publicity during the last three or four months that the office is dead. We've all had to put up with not being in an office and most of our businesses have got through it okay, but that doesn't mean that's the way to prosper and grow a business.
"I for one am a big advocate of the value of an office and all the things that flow from that…. the energy, the edge, the multiple discussions and meetings that might last five minutes, the connection with people, the innovation, the social side of it - particularly among younger people where work is a big part of their social life."
Context:
Hess gave an impassioned defence of the need for MSPs to have offices during a heated CRN Deskflix debate in July, even admitting that he felt Cancom's KPIs had suffered due to staff working remotely.
Cancom UK opened its offices on 26 May, explained Hess - who was also recently interviewed on the topic by the BBC.