IBM Orders More Employees To Spend Time In The Office

The new mandate is “consistent with” IBM’s focus “on providing a work environment that balances flexibility with the face to face interactions that make us more productive, innovative and better able to serve our clients,” an IBM spokesperson said.

IBM has started requiring executives and people managers in the United States to come to the office at least three days a week.

The new mandate is “consistent with” the Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant’s focus “on providing a work environment that balances flexibility with the face to face interactions that make us more productive, innovative and better able to serve our clients,” an IBM spokesperson told CRN in an email.

Last fall, IBM’s software unit started forcing employees around the world who live within a 50-mile radius of an IBM office building to return to the office at least three days per week.

IBM Return To Office Policy

An internal IBM email from John Granger, senior vice president of IBM Consulting, said that employees should "separate from IBM" if they don't want to follow the policy, according to The Register.

A LinkedIn post by IBM Federal Garage lead Tony Moura said that the policy has “limited exceptions” such as personal medical accommodations or military service.

“Those who joined IBM through an acquisition are exempted from this policy for two years from the date they transferred employment into IBM, and in the interim should continue to follow the workplace requirements of their integration plan,” according to the post.

Employees who don’t consistently work at a client site or IBM office can agree to relocate by Aug. 1 to access an IBM U.S. location, with a relocation package a possible option from IBM. Those relocation requirements will be sent by the end of January with a 30-day period for decision-making.

The news comes as multiple employers in and outside tech reassess work-from-home policies less than a year after the federal government ended the COVID-19 public health emergency. Even the White House has been making efforts to bring workers back into the office at least 50 percent of the time.