Snap orders workers back to the office 4 days a week in “Default Together” policy

According to an internal memo from Bloomberg, starting in February, Snap employees are expected to spend at least 80% of their time in the office and be out of the office four days a week for most employees. The policy, which CEO Evan Spiegel called “collective failure,” would apply to all of Snap’s 30 offices around the world.

Spiegel said the new return-to-the-office policy would help Snap realize its “full potential,” arguing that what workers could give up “in terms of our individual convenience” is compensated for by “our collective success.” “ would be balanced.

Snap did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Snap was an early adopter of a remote-first policy when COVID began to spread across the US. In his memo, however, Spiegel wrote that he worries that the longer hours of working from home mean that “we’ve forgotten what we’ve lost — and what we could gain — by spending more time together.”

Der Spiegel’s comments echo other statements by business leaders who are trying to get workers to commute again. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said: wealth in February that the bank’s “cultural foundation” is requiring employees to be back in the office, while JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has argued that remote work encourages dishonesty and procrastination.

Many companies have tried to impose personal work mandates. Companies like Apple and BlackRock are asking workers to come in three days a week, while others like General Motors plan to enforce their own three-day-week mandates in the coming year.

Most recently, new Twitter CEO Elon Musk called for workers to come into the office, saying only “exceptional” workers would get a work-from-home allowance. (Musk reportedly backed down on this request as Twitter employees chose not to embrace the new CEO’s “hardcore” work culture.)

Snap’s call for employees to return to the office comes amid a slump for the social media company.

Snap said it will shed about 20% of its workforce on Aug. 30, citing slow quarterly revenue growth. The company also said it would cut spending in its augmented reality division.

The social media company reported its slowest-ever quarterly revenue growth of just 6% in late October, which it attributed to “macroeconomic headwinds” and “increasing competition.” Snap also announced it would be closing its San Francisco office, saying in a memo that the space “was barely used by team members after we transitioned to flexible working,” according to Bloomberg.