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How we work


ZOOM AND GRINDR RETURN TO OFFICE: TECH'S SURPRISING REMOTE WORK U-TURN

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By Alex Christian20th September 2023

Tech companies are the most well positioned to keep working from home – and have
even created the tools to do so. Yet they, too, are urging workers back to
desks.
I

In August, Grindr gave its workers a return-to-office ultimatum: either agree to
work twice a week in person from October, or lose their jobs. The policy meant
employees hired remotely would need to relocate to Los Angeles, where the social
networking and online dating app is headquartered, or one of its other US 'hub'
cities, such as New York or Chicago. 

Many workers rejected the mandate. According to the Grindr union, 82 of the
company's 178 employees have been let go for refusing to comply (Grindr didn't
respond to multiple BBC requests for comment).

As bosses call back workers, many companies in tech sector have been actively
supportive and permissive of flexible work. Grindr's decision to implement such
a strict return-to-office protocol – and willingness to lose nearly half of its
staff – has come as a shock to many people. After all, compared to highly
strict, corporate businesses that have made staunch in-office rules, startups
and digital-first companies are better positioned to work remotely, and
generally pride themselves on their adaptability. 

Yet Grindr isn't the only tech company that's drawn a line through fully remote
working patterns. For example, Elon Musk effectively ended working from home for
employees at Twitter (now X) in November 2022 after mandating they work in
person at least 40 hours a week. In recent months, Big Tech companies, including
Amazon, have also stiffened their hybrid-working mandates.

Among the highest-profile – and in many ways, surprising – return-to-office tech
announcements was at Zoom. In August, the video-conferencing platform – largely
synonymous with remote work – announced that workers living within 50mi (80.5km)
of an office now must work in person at least twice a week. 

Despite their reputations of agility and progressiveness, many tech companies
are increasingly sending an unexpected message: in-person work is too important
to lose, no matter the public reception or the preferences of their
employees.   

'The human side is still valuable' 

For Zoom's part, Drew Smith, its head of government relations in UK and Ireland,
says the company rediscovered how much it valued face-to-face interactions as
Covid-19 restrictions eased, and staff returned to in-person collaboration. The
San Jose, California-headquartered business had operated a full time in-person
work pattern before the pandemic.

Grindr instituted strict return-to-office mandates, and lost much of their staff
as a result (Credit: Getty Images)

"As we brought product and engineering teams back together in the US, we were
surprised how many issues were solved just by virtue of them being in the same
room," says London-based Smith. "From an innovation perspective, we were able to
do more, and be more productive working in person."

Zoom's reasoning echoes that of other more traditional companies that have
reinstituted mandatory office time. "The human side is still valuable," adds
Smith. "Some interactions, such as manager one-on-ones, learning and camaraderie
are harder when you're remote. While we've innovated and built our platform over
the last few years, perhaps we could've done even more had the pandemic forced
us to not come together." 

And even beyond Zoom, despite common perceptions, Smith says fully remote
working in general is not the norm.

This is especially the case for big companies, explains Allison English, deputy
CEO of employee experience research firm Leesman, based in London. Essentially,
even though tech outcomes and products are by nature innovative, many of its
operational processes are often more traditional.

"The larger the corporation, the less able it is to have a bunch of people
running around being entrepreneurial and super creative," she says. "There have
to be cogs in wheels, showing up and getting stuff done for businesses to
function – that's the same for any company, across any sector."


> PEOPLE TEND TO FOLLOW THE HERD. THERE WAS A WAVE OF FIRMS GOING FULLY REMOTE
> TO SAVE MONEY, NOW THEY'RE FOLLOWING BIG TECH IN MOVING TO HYBRID – ZACH
> ROSEMAN

Yet smaller, nascent startups are also following the return-to-office trend.
Jenny He, founder of early stage venture fund Position Ventures, based in San
Francisco, says most of her portfolio companies are back in the workplace on a
hybrid basis, with many even moving into larger offices to accommodate growing
teams. She, too, cites innovation, relationship building and serendipitous
collaboration as the reasons these firms are returning.

Overall, leaders are now concerned that virtual working has degraded the
in-person connections they believe are vital to innovation, says Zach Roseman,
founder of New York-based job referral platform Draftboard. "Speaking to many
startup founders, everyone who went all in on remote is now pulling back.
They're finding that people were more mercenary than missionary in outlook,
there was no sense of belonging and retention rates dropped."

The start of a domino effect? 

Nevertheless, despite these oft-cited reasons for a preference for in-person
working, tech is still often expected to behave differently than other
industries, says English, which can explain why some people see the industry's
return to office jarring, or even counterintuitive.

"Over the years, we've seen tech revolutionise what's available in the
workplace: from introducing ping-pong tables to beer on tap, the sector has had
an alternative way of looking at the office. Then, during the pandemic, it was
tech's solutions that helped businesses support their employees working from
home," she says.

Employees returning to Zoom's Holborn office in the centre of London will find a
new "Engagement Hub", meant to foster collaboration (Image: Courtesy of Zoom)

And the current tech trend in pushing for an office return may start a domino
effect, says Roseman. Because tech firms are typically positioned best for
remote working, they were among the first to ditch the office at the height of
the 2020 work-from-anywhere boom. "People tend to follow the herd. There was a
wave of firms going fully remote to save money, now they're following Big Tech
in moving to hybrid." 

Tech firms may, surprisingly, end up being among the least flexible on hybrid
work – and may encounter the greatest employee-employer dissonance. In being the
first work-from-anywhere adopters, many tech companies now must take a harder
line in pushing for hybrid set-ups, adds Roseman. 

"The issue with Grindr and other companies that went remote early on [in the
pandemic] is that employees have received the message they can work from
anywhere, so they've moved away from the office and structured their lives
around it – incompatible with moving back to the city where they were originally
hired. So, what we're seeing is a period of friction as the tech market
resettles."

English agrees strict return-to-office mandates have created a disconnect:
employees who have produced technology enabling remote work now have to return
to regular in-person patterns. "The initial direction of travel seemed to be
that more traditional businesses would return to more traditional ways of always
doing things, and that tech would see the future of work in a new light and do
things differently – the way it always has."

Although Smith says he's not "privy" to employee feedback regarding Zoom's
return-to-office policy, he says teams have generally welcomed clarity over
their in-office days, and internal research has shown teams are happy with
flexible hybrid work. Reactions from former Grindr staffers, however, have been
louder and far more negative.

Still, for all its innovative products and services, the tech sector isn't that
different after all, says English. "The larger the tech company, the more likely
it is to fall into traditional leadership, with the same roles and structures as
other organisations. These are leaders running businesses who have to make
money, and make their shareholders happy."

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