Every Fortune 100’s Return To Office Policy: Google, Apple + (MAY UPDATE)

In early 2020, the office was turned off like a light switch. Anyone who could work from home was instructed or recommended to do just that. This was a temporary measure to fight a pandemic. But the temporary shift from in-office work to remote work turned into a massive, unintentional experiment to test where and how work could be done. Like in any experiment, the experimental group (remote) had a fighting chance to outperform the control group (the office).

For many companies, that’s exactly what happened. Many big names became permanently remote companies. Others turned to permanent hybrid work. And the plans to return to the office continued to be delayed.

In this article (more like a database), we’ll keep an updated list of every “return to office” policy we can find for the Fortune 100, or the 100 biggest US-based companies.

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Fortune 100: Every Up-To-Date ‘Return To Office’ Policy

You’ll see information about the company – Fortune 100 rank and number of employees – and about their plans for a return to the office – the current date to call employees back in person, previous postponed dates, and the company’s policy on remote work.

See Also: 

• Great Resignation Statistics (2022): The Full List
• 100 Companies With The Best Work-Life Balance

 

Return To Office: Our Definition

A “return to office” date is the day in which a company has announced it will expect employees to show up in-person for work after being temporarily allowed to work remotely.

 

Return To Office News For Notable Companies

Some companies have garnered a bit more interest in their plans for remote or hybrid work, and a return to the office. In this section, we’ll give a bit more context for some of the notable companies’ plans to return to the office.

See Also: Return To Office: 14 Timely Questions Answered

Alphabet’s (Google’s) Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: April 4, 2022
• Remote work policy: Remote-first/hybrid

In March of 2022, Alphabet announced employees should return to some of its office for three days per week starting on April 4, 2022.

On August 3, 2021, Alphabet officially announced its new stance on remote work: “Alphabet Inc.’s Google approved 85% of employee requests to work remotely or relocate once its offices fully re-open, the company told staff Tuesday.

 

Apple’s Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: April 11 (return for one day per week), May 23 plan (three days per week) pushed back indefinitely
• Remote work policy: Hybrid/Partial

In March 2022, Apple announced it would start the roll-out of a new hybrid work model starting April 11 and completing May 23.

In May 2022, Apple announced it indefinitely delayed its plan to have employees come in for three days per week.

On June 4, 2021, CEO Tim Cook wrote in a letter to employees that “Apple will have employees return to office buildings three days a week, with the option to work remotely twice a week, beginning in September, the Verge reports.”

In a letter to management, Apple employees pushed for more flexibility.

 

Meta’s (Facebook’s) Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: March 28, 2022
• Remote work policy: Partial

On January 11, 2022, Meta delayed its return-to-office date from January 31, 2022 to March 28, 2022.

On August 17, 2021, it was announced that “Facebook will allow all employees who can work outside the office, that is, from home, to do so after the coronavirus pandemic will end.” Prior to that, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that “half of the company’s 60,000 employees could be working from home within a decade.”

 

Microsoft’s Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: February 28, 2022
• Remote work policy: Optional

On February 15, 2022, Microsoft announced its offices in Washington state and California would return to the office by February 28, 2022.

“Microsoft will still allow some leeway for workers, and not all employees will return to the office full time. Employees can ask their managers to approve requests to adjust their work site, location, or hours.”

On October 9, 2020, Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s chief people officer, said in a note to employees: “We will offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual workstyles, while balancing business needs, and ensuring we live our culture.”

 

Amazon’s Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: Yet to be determined
• Remote work policy: Optional/Partial

On October 11, 2021, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company would no longer require corporate workers to return to the office. This change in policy came after setting two prior return-to-office dates for late 2021 and early 2022.

A Business Insider stated, “Before this week’s announcement, Amazon was planning to require corporate and tech workers to be in the office at least three days per week starting in January 2022, unless given special permission by their manager. The original plan had been to return in September.”

 

Morgan Stanley’s Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: Yet to be determined
• Remote work policy: Office-first

Fox Business, December 16, 2021: “Morgan Stanley’s New York area brokers are being encouraged to work remotely until January 3rd, per a memo that was sent out by management on Wednesday evening.”

Since then, Morgan Stanley pushed back the return indefinitely. “I was wrong on this,” he told CNBC’s Wilfred Frost on “Closing Bell.” “I thought we would have been out of it past Labor Day and we’re not.”

However, more than half of Morgan Stanley employees have been back at the firm’s New York headquarters, Gorman said. “If you can go to a restaurant, you can come into the office. And we want you in the office,” Gorman said.

 

Bank Of America’s Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: March 1, 2022
• Remote work policy: Office-first

Bank of America on Wednesday detailed plans to have all vaccinated employees back in the office by March 1, according to a memo sent internally to all U.S. employees from the company’s human resources unit, according to Advisor Hub.

“All U.S. employees who have been invited to work in the office should ensure that they have transitioned back into the workplace as of March 1,” the memo said, noting all vaccinated employees have been invited back. “These teammates should all be working in the office as of this date, and going forward, for their normal work schedule.”

 

Goldman Sachs’s Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: February 1, 2022
• Remote work policy: Office-first

Goldman Sachs called employees back to the office on February 1, 2022.

Prior to that, Goldman had three planned return-to-office dates that were all postponed: June 2021, July 2021, and January 2022.

The bank is entering a period where it can bring more staff back and has about 20% of employees in its offices around the U.S., COO John Waldron said at a virtual meeting with the New Jersey State Investment Council on Wednesday.

 

JPMorgan Chase’s Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: February 1, 2022
• Remote work policy: Hybrid

According to CNN, JPMorgan shared it is “not changing our long-term plans of working in the office. We expect everyone to return to their in-office schedule no later than February 1, 2022.”

As far as a stance on remote work, CEO Jamie Dimon said, “We want people back to work,” although he meant the office, not work. “And everyone is going to be happy with it, and yes, the commute, you know people don’t like commuting, but so what.”

UPDATE, April 4, 2022: “It’s clear that working from home will become more permanent in American business,” Dimon acknowledged in his annual shareholder letter Monday. “Approximately 40 percent will be able to embrace a hybrid work model, coming into the office a few days a week.”

 

 

Wells Fargo’s Return To Office

• Return-to-office date: March 14, 2022
• Remote work policy: Hybrid

In mid-February, Wells Fargo announced it expected employees to return to the office on March 14, 2022 under a hybrid working model.

 

Is one of our policies out of date?

We have a recurring task to update every policy once per month, but we may have missed an announcement in the interim. If one of our policies is out of date, please fill in the form below to let us know. We’ll follow up through email and then update the table right away (and give you credit if you’d like).

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