Zoom, a company that specialises in video communications and whose brand became associated with remote work during the pandemic, has instructed employees to return to the office.

The company stated that it thought a “structured hybrid approach” was the most successful and recommended that people who lived less than 50 miles (80 km) from an office visit in person at least twice per week.

It is the most recent attempt by a significant company to roll back flexible working practises.

Several companies, including Amazon and Disney, have cut back on remote workdays.

According to surveys, some employees are still clinging to the option of working from home.

According to a poll done monthly since the epidemic by academics at Stanford University and other institutions, about 12% of employees in the US, where Zoom is headquartered, were entirely remote in July, and another 29% had mixed arrangements.

That is consistent with tendencies discovered earlier this year by the UK’s Office for National Statistics.

The Stanford team has previously discovered that remote work is more prevalent in English-speaking nations and far less prevalent in Asia and Europe.

In the US, only roughly 5% of days were spent working from home prior to the pandemic. Workers everywhere constantly want more flexible work schedules than what companies deem ideal.

Zoom once claimed that employees would be able to work from home indefinitely.

According to the IT company, the new policy would be implemented in different countries on a staggered schedule between August and September.

It declared that it would continue to “hire the best talent, regardless of location”. Over half of the company’s 8,400 employees were situated in the US as of the end of January.

Zoom has recently launched a new London office in the UK, where it currently employs about 200 people.

According to Zoom, the new policy will place the business in a “better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers,” as first reported by Business Insider.

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

The Wall Street Journal claimed at the time that just approximately 1% of the company’s employees had “regular office presences” in September 2022, while 75% of them lived remotely and the remaining 20% had hybrid arrangements.

However, Zoom is coming under increasing pressure as the growth of remote work forces competitors like Microsoft to improve their video solutions.

Since the epidemic, growth has significantly decreased. It said earlier this year that it would lay off 15% of its workforce and that its senior executives would receive significant pay cuts.

Currently, the value of each share is under $68, down from the peak value of almost $500 in October 2020.

(Adapted from BBC.com)