GM issues return-to-office mandate for remote workers

Employees who had worked remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic are expected to “pivot to a more regular in-person work cycle,” which includes three days on GM’s campus each week, a spokesperson said Friday. The return-to-office mandate will take effect later this year, the spokesperson said.

“We’re committed to maintaining flexibility to ensure our employees can attend to personal commitments,” the spokesperson said. “We will share details with them in the coming weeks.” 

Detroit-based GM joins a long list of corporations, including Apple Inc., Peloton Interactive Inc. and Comcast Corp., that have asked workers since Labor Day to return to offices several days a week.

GM, like much of the auto industry, allowed white-collar workers to log in remotely under its “work appropriately” strategy during the pandemic. 

Ford Motor Co. said Saturday it’s keeping a “flexible hybrid” model that only requires salaried workers to appear in-person for group meetings. Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. offers its corporate employees the option to work from home all the time.

Those policies stand in stark contrast to Tesla Inc., where Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk ordered workers in June to spend 40 hours per week in the office and dismissed remote work as “pretend.”

While many CEOs remain critical of remote work, some research has shown that people who work from home are just as productive and typically more satisfied than office workers.

Still, the ability to work remotely presents a wrinkle for companies with a mix of white-collar and frontline workers: Management must walk a fine line when they extend flexibility to some employees and not to others.

GM employs more than 94,000 people in the US, including about 2,300 workers at its Detroit Renaissance Center global headquarters, according to the company’s website.

—With assistance by Keith Naughton