The advertising giant WPP informed its employees they would have to be in the office at least four times a week beginning April.
Mark Read, the chief executive of the company, sent a memo to more than 100,000 employees yesterday (7 January), stating that “the success of the business still depends on the fundamentals: human connection, creative thinking and relationships”.
He added, “We are at our best when we work together in person.”
WPP-owned agencies were previously allowed to establish their own hybrid policies, while the headquarters staff was required to work three days per week.
WPP has become one of the world’s largest employers, requiring staff to be in the office the majority of each week.
Amazon told its staff in September that they would be required to work full-time from the beginning of this month. BT, meanwhile, announced a policy called “three together, 2 wherever”, whereby data from passcards are shared with managers for tracking compliance.
A group of Amazon Web Services employees sent a letter to the CEO urging him to reverse the mandate for return-to-work. They claimed that the decision was not “data-driven” but “misrepresented reality of working at Amazon”.
Read informed employees that better attendance at the office was associated with higher employee engagement and improved financial performance.
He added that “more of our clients expect this of the teams they work with.”
The company employs thousands across three “campuses”, in London, and stated that the move to a fuller office presence would require “detailed planing” to address capacity needs.
Data from Transport for London shows that commutes to the capital have decreased, while the number of employees encouraged to work at home has doubled from before the pandemic.
According to research from the job site Indeed.com, almost half of UK manager’s felt that return-to-office directives were about appearance rather than purpose.
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