Until the laborer market loosens up, good luck getting anyone to come in more than two days per week?
GM Revises Return-to-Office Plan Amid Employee Concerns
Timing for in-office policy pushed to next year as company seeks worker feedback
General Motors will solidify its return-to-office plans by the end of October, an employee memo stated Tuesday.
By Mike Colias, WSJ
Sept. 27, 2022 4:58 pm ET
General Motors Co. GM -0.94%▼ is backpedaling on aspects of its return-to-office plans amid criticism from employees, the latest example of companies straining to navigate their pandemic-era work policies.
An employee memo sent Friday from Chief Executive Mary Barra and her leadership team outlined plans to have salaried employees return to the office three days a week, a policy set to take effect later this year. Many employees viewed the change as a departure from plans the company implemented last year, which emphasized flexibility and didn’t require in-office days, people familiar with the matter said.
On Tuesday, a follow-up email from Ms. Barra’s team, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, sought to clarify last week’s message, saying it generated “questions, concerns and misconceptions.” It also called the timing of the original message, delivered on Friday afternoon, unfortunate.
The return to in-office days now won’t be required before the first quarter of next year, the Tuesday email said. The email also clarified that the company won’t mandate which days of the week employees will be expected to be present. The policy is expected to stick to the three-days-in-office requirement, said a GM spokeswoman, who confirmed the Tuesday memo.
News of the memo was reported earlier by the Detroit Free Press.
GM will solidify its return-to-work plans by the end of October, the Tuesday email said.
“We intend to spend the next few weeks continuing to listen to your feedback,” the memo said. “Balancing the flexibility to ensure that you can manage your life outside of GM is a primary consideration.”
In April 2021, GM implemented a plan it called “Work Appropriately,” which didn’t mandate in-office days but gave managers latitude to work with their teams to develop a tailored approach based on their workflows.
It was a nod to a policy that Ms. Barra implemented a decade earlier as GM’s human-resources chief, when she boiled down a 10-page dress code to two words: “Dress appropriately.”
Write to Mike Colias at mike.colias@wsj.com