Amazon made waves this week when it announced it would be calling its corporate employees back to the office five days a week. In a note announcing the change, Amazon chief executive officer Andy Jassy said the decision was made to enhance the company’s culture and increase collaborations across teams.
Other major retail companies have recently tightened their in-office mandates for employees. But Amazon’s move marked a more obvious departure from the general adoption of a hybrid model that has become the norm in retail. In May, for example, Walmart said that many of its remote workers would need to relocate back to central offices across the country, but said these employees will still be able to work on a hybrid basis in these locations. And since January, Nike employees have been required to come into the office four days a week, while working remote one day a week.
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While Amazon’s announcement might set a precedent for CEOs of other companies angling toward an office comeback, it is not a given that retail companies will broadly decide to adopt this model, according to Kyle Rudy, senior partner at executive search firm Kirk Palmer Associates.
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“There is still a gap between people’s willingness to return to office full time and companies’ desire to bring employees back,” Rudy told WWD sister publication FN. “Candidates are much less willing to relocate when there’s a belief that other companies are offering greater flexibility. It may work for Amazon, but not every company can afford to lose out on the subset of talent that isn’t willing to relocate or go back to a full return-to-office environment.”
In other words, hybrid work is still very much the norm in major companies across the country, especially in retail (Adidas, Under Armour and Tapestry, for example, all operate on a hybrid basis). What’s more, Rudy called out several retail companies like Abercrombie & Fitch and Dick’s Sporting Goods that are actually outperforming business-wise while operating under a hybrid work schedule.
“There are plenty of examples of retailers and brands that are doing very well with the hybrid model,” Rudy said. “The proof of performance is there to back it up.”
Still, the pendulum appears to be swinging toward more office time. According to KPMG’s 2024 CEO Outlook, which analyzed responses from more than 1,300 CEOs at large companies globally, 79 percent of CEOs expect corporate working environments to shift to more in-office time in the next three years, compared to 34 percent earlier this year. And 86 percent said they would reward in-office employees with more promotions and raises. Still, CEOs reflected the need to maintain flexibility, with 17 percent saying they expect to see hybrid roles persist over the next three years.
When it comes to footwear, some companies have ditched office requirements altogether. Faryl Robin Gilston, founder of Faryl Robin footwear, has always allowed staff to work from anywhere and says that stringent five-day-a-week office requirements negatively impact women in the workplace because they are often also primary caregivers at home.
“At the end of the day that companies are healthier when they have a more diverse and inclusive workforce,” Robin Gilston said. “[They] will do better when the workforce is actually happier and they don’t feel like they have to choose between self care, happiness, family care and and being treated equally in a workforce. And the appreciation from that alone actually inspires people to work harder and better.”
At the same time, employees have become accustomed to the flexibility that comes with having some remote working days and are unlikely to give that up easily.
According to a July survey of 700 professional services companies in the U.S. from international recruitment consultancy Robert Walters, 25 percent of U.S. firms increased their number of office days in the last 12 months. But Robert Walters’ CEO Gerrit Bouckaert said companies shouldn’t jump the gun.
“Given it is too early to tell whether this method will result in increased productivity, other organizations should be mindful of jumping on the ‘bandwagon’ of a full return-to-office, without considering the impact this will have to your ability to attract and retain employees,” Bouckaert said in a statement.