By Jess Jones
Zoom, once a remote work champion, has beckoned employees back to the office more often as pandemic work-from-home habits begin to topple.
The company synonymous with virtual meetings now insists that staff – known as Zoomies – who live within 50 miles of a Zoom office should abandon their home desks spend at least two days a week working on-site.
“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 company spokesperson told Business Insider, explaining the shift in strategy.
The company was a stock market darling in 2020 as lockdown struck.
However, as Covid-19 restrictions eased and businesses pushed for office-based work, Zoom’s revenue growth slowed, leading to a more than $100bn (£78.4bn) decline in its market value since.
Zoom shares have fallen 39 per cent in the past year.
“As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers,” Zoom added.
Zoom did not immediately respond to City A.M.’s request for comment regarding whether the changes apply in the UK.
The unexpected U-turn comes at a time when many other companies have started requiring employees to head back to the traditional office space.
In May, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, said the office should be the “default” location for capable workers as he expressed concerns that working from home could lead to a “lack of creativity” amongst employees.
Despite the shift back to office-based work,Zoom’s own survey results show 43 per cent of workers see flexible work as a “basic expectation” rather than a mere perk, while 70 per cent stated they would consider changing jobs to find a more flexible work environment.
