Zoom tells employees to return to office for work

If there was one firm that you’d assume would keep WFH forever, it would be Zoom. But that’s no longer the case.

If there was one company you would imagine would not demand staff return to the office it would be Zoom.

Yet, Zoom has confirmed it is asking all of its employees to return to the office for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, when the tech company blew up as one of the main means of communication for people forced to work from home, reported the New York Post.

Zoom, which remains a leader in the post-pandemic remote work trend, is now asking all employees within 80km of a company office to go in at least two days a week on a hybrid schedule.

Zoom headquarters in San Jose, California. (Photo by JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

“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,” a spokesman told website Business Insider in a statement.

“As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers.”

Less of this for Zoom staff.

The San Jose, California, based company’s shares skyrocketed six-fold in 2020 when the pandemic left millions of employees who needed to connect with co-workers online stranded in their homes, according to the outlet. Zoom quickly emerged as the go-to video conferencing service.

Towards the end of 2021, however, Zoom’s stock plummeted and the company has since lost at least $150 billion in market value.

The stock stagnated again this year as workers have returned to their offices across the country, cutting the reliance on video communications, Business Insider reported.

In January 2022, Zoom said only 2 per cent of its employees worked on-site.

Zoom has two United States offices in San Jose and Denver as well as numerous international sites, according to the company’s website. The company employs more than 8400 people worldwide, reported Fortune.

“We’ll continue to leverage the entire Zoom platform to keep our employees and dispersed teams connected and working efficiently,” the spokesman said.

This story appeared in the New York Post and is reproduced with permission.