Zoom remote work video app orders staff back to the office

Zoom is forcing staff to come back to the office. Photo / Unsplash

Zoom, the video calling app synonymous with remote working during the pandemic, is ordering staff back to the office.

Employees in the US have been told that those who live near one of its offices must be on site for at least two days a week, with the company claiming that hybrid working “is most effective for Zoom”.

The tech company, which has more than 8000 staff, is the latest major employer to sour on fully remote work. Amazon, Apple, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, among others, have all ordered staff to return to the office more frequently in recent months.

The irony for Zoom is that remote work was a boon for its business.

Zoom’s video-conferencing software was a smash-hit during the pandemic as entire industries were forced into remote working more or less overnight.

The Californian company’s stock surged during Covid-19 but its price has collapsed as people have returned to work, wiping more than US$100 billion (NZ$1.6b) from Zoom’s market value.

A spokesman for the company said: “We believe that a structured hybrid approach – meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams – is most effective for Zoom.”

Business Insider first reported the return to office demand.

Hybrid workers spend twice as much time stuck in meetings compared with those who work full-time in the office, a study from Stanford University found.

It comes amid fears that remote workers are less productive than those who follow traditional working patterns, and so will reinforce concerns that the pandemic’s legacy for the economy may be one of weaker growth as long as a significant degree of home working lingers.

The Stanford study found that the higher number of meetings for hybrid workers was in part because those who split their week between their workplace and their home are typically managers and professionals, while staff who only do in-person work tend to need to see customers face-to-face or use equipment.

However, people who work entirely from home also spend less than one quarter of their time in meetings – they are typically IT and other support staff who do not need to interact in person with their colleagues, researchers at Stanford, the University of Chicago and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México found.

“The split among hybrid workers looks particularly suited to professionals and managers who need to talk through strategic decisions,” the researchers found. “For fully remote and fully in-person work, such discussions and meetings are clearly a smaller part of the job.”

Previous research from the analysts showed that the typical American worker puts in 1.4 days at home. In Britain, the average is higher at 1.5 days, while only Canadians work from home more, at 1.7 days each.

The researchers found there is no difference between the groups in their willingness to work when feeling sick. Just over one in five said they would not work when feeling unwell.

Among those who are able to work from home, 39 per cent said they would come into work despite being poorly, while 38 per cent said they would stay at home and work from there.

The academics said the lesson of the pandemic may suggest those who are unwell should be encouraged to stay at home, if they can still work.

“If a worker feels sick, ill, or injured but they can muster the strength to do some work from home, why shouldn’t they? More so if it keeps coworkers from catching the cold, flu or Covid,” they said.

“Part of the discussion about remote work should probably revolve around how it can keep the work going when workers are not well enough to come in. If they are allowed to take sick days, why not also let workers have work-from-home-sick days too?”