Zoom: We’re not choosing the office over remote work
Even as Zoom encourages its employees back to the office, it’s sticking by an approach of flexible work, writes Phil Perry.
The news in the last few days that Zoom is asking employees who live within 50 miles of our office to come into work for two days a week seems to have shocked a lot of people. It shouldn’t have. We’ve always been clear that for most organisations, working policies that encourage a balance between in-person and remote work offer the best of both worlds. Bringing our people together in our global network of offices has always been part of the Zoom vision for hybrid work.
When our chief executive officer Eric Yuan founded Zoom in 2011, it was because he felt there was a better way for people to communicate and work together using technology. Our first innovative tools, such as video meetings and collaborative chat technologies, became the only ways that businesses could carry on operating during lockdown. This led to faster adoption of ways of working that organisations had already been looking at. But this was only an acceleration, not a change. Be it in the form of shorter working weeks, changes to where you work, or the technology used to carry out tasks, organisations large and small have been moving towards greater flexibility for years.
At Zoom, we’ve seen how a flexible approach to work has transformed the way we run our business and the experience of our employees. Rather than falling on the side of the office or at home, something we see as a false dichotomy, we’re asking our employees – who live within a reasonable distance to the office – to come in twice a week on designated days, giving them the option and flexibility to continue working from home or wherever they do their best work for the majority of the week.
One thing the last few years has shown is that people can be trusted to be productive and efficient wherever they’re based, and there is no reason to take this choice away. Employees want the flexibility to do their jobs well and make the right decisions for their personal lives. That’s why we have introduced a policy that offers employees choice in how they spend their working weeks, but aims to retain the collaborative benefits of an office.
By applying this only to those who live within a 50 mile radius of our office, we aren’t asking anyone to pack up and relocate for a job. In fact, globally we only expect our new policy to apply to roughly a third of our workforce, with the other two thirds living further than 50 miles from an office.
We’re continuing to search for outstanding talent to join our business from every corner of the UK and beyond, fully in the knowledge that some may never work from our brand new London Engagement Hub. This is central to accessing the talent we need to thrive and succeed. In enabling employees to live wherever they choose, we are also promoting a way of working that has proven to deliver for local economies – addressing the brain drain towards London that exists in so much of the country.
This is an approach that we feel is right for our company and our workers. The world of work has changed, and employees and leaders must be given the opportunity to develop working styles that reflect this. There is no right or wrong way to how and where people should work, but it’s clear that businesses need to embrace that things have moved on from the traditional office model. If you trust your workers and give them the tools to do the job, they will reward you.
The organisations that best adapt to these changes and optimise the benefits of technology and flexible working, while making the most of the times that teams spend face to face, will be those that succeed. Zoom has powered the hybrid and working revolution seen around the world in recent years, and with these changes, plus our new London Engagement Hub, we aim to continue showing the world how great hybrid working should be done, setting the standards for others to follow in the process.