Snap now forces employees to return to the office

Snap is the latest big tech company to put the hammer on remote work: CEO Evan Spiegel told employees this week that they will have to work from the office 80% of the time from February.

According to the announcement, full-time employees of the Santa Monica-based company will be required to work from the office four or more days a week, though offsite customer meetings will count toward their time in the office. This policy, which Spiegel has dubbed “default together”, applies to employees in the company’s 30 global offices, and the company is working on an exception process for those who wish to continue working remotely. Snap’s abrupt shift follows other big tech companies, including Applewhich launched its hybrid policy requiring employees to be in the office at least three days a week in September, and Twitterwho abolished remote work altogether after Elon Musk’s takeover (although he did temporarily close offices amid a series of resignations in mid-November).


“After working remotely for so long, we’re excited to bring everyone together next year with our new 80/20 hybrid model,” a Snap spokesperson said in a statement to dot.LA. “We believe that being together in person, while maintaining flexibility for our team members, will enhance our ability to deliver on our strategic priorities of community growth, revenue growth and leadership in AR. .”

In a memo to employees, Spiegel said “spending more time together in person will help us realize our full potential.” Bloomberg reported. “What each of us can sacrifice in terms of individual convenience, I believe we will reap in terms of collective success.”

The move, however, is a full 180 for Snap, which, like Twitter, once kissed a remote priority policy. And despite Spiegel’s optimistic outlook that the change will bring increased productivity, it could have the opposite effect.

In a study of 2,300 full-timee american workers published in November by remote work hardware company Owl Labs, the company found that employee interest in office work fell 24% between 2021 and 2022. Interest in hybrid and remote work , meanwhile, jumped 16% and 24%, respectively.

According to Owl Labs CEO Frank Weishaupt, a complete overhaul of remote work policies could hurt employee retention, trust and morale at tech companies.

“You take a position you’re looking to fill, you create a culture of accountability, and you hire someone to play a role,” Weishaupt said. “Do you hire them to fulfill a role and the tasks that you have described? Or do you hire them to watch them work? Anyone answering that last one isn’t thinking about it the right way.

Not to mention that employees are also not afraid to walk if they are forced to return to their cabins. The same study found that if work-from-home flexibilities were removed, two-thirds of workers would immediately start looking for a new job and almost 40% said they would quit altogether. At Twitter, for example, Elon Musk’s brutal requests to return to the office – in addition to requiring long hours and “extremely hardcore” job — sent hundreds of employees run for the hills. While likely less severe than Twitter’s chaos, Snap could experience a similar exodus, and renewing its talent may prove difficult.

“It’s quite amazing to see this joke of a company that can’t even plan 1 month ahead and won’t hesitate to ruin the lives of its employees,” a One Snap employee wrote on Blindan anonymous forum for certified technicians.

Another one wrote“Can anyone spare a reference, the final straw was pulled on Snap.”

To that end, around 75% of workers surveyed by Owl Labs said working from home would make them feel more confident with their company, and 86% said it would make them happier.

“Disgruntled employees don’t perform as well,” Weishaupt added. “If I sent a notification to my organization saying, ‘You have to be in the office five days a week,’ I think we would have a lot of disgruntled employees who were producing a lot less than they are now.”

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