Roblox has a new workplace policy—and employees can take it (the strict return-to-office mandate) or leave it (the company).
The company “will be asking a number of our remote employees to begin working from our headquarters in San Mateo by next summer and transitioning away from remote work at Roblox,” Roblox founder and CEO David Baszucki said in an internal memo yesterday (Oct. 17), that was subsequently shared as a blogpost.
Employees can either work the firm’s Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday, in-office schedule, or take a severance package. They have until Jan. 16, 2024, to decide. Those who decide against relocation will have until April 15 next year to transition out of their full-time roles. Those who decide to stay will have to make the move to San Mateo by next July.
With this announcement, the online gaming platform, which made a 2021 public debut fresh off a pandemic boost, did a 180 on its May 2022 decision to let workers “primarily work remotely.” And the reason Baszucki cited for the U-turn is that virtual work tech just isn’t good enough yet.
Quotable: The cons of Zoom and virtual workplaces
“For many of us, ‘Zoom fatigue’ is real. A three-hour Group Review in person is much less exhausting than over video and brainstorming sessions are more fluid and creative. While I’m confident we will get to a point where virtual workspaces are as engaging, collaborative, and productive as physical spaces, we aren’t there yet.”
—Roblox CEO David Baszucki in an Oct. 17 memo to staff
One complicated number: Does remote work hurt productivity?
10%: Drop in productivity associated with fully remote work versus in-person work, according to an analysis of recent research by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. “Challenges with communicating remotely, barriers to mentoring, building culture and issues with self-motivation” all get in the way, the study authors found. However, hybrid working “appears to have no impact on productivity.”
A non-exhaustive list of big tech firms with return-to-office mandates
While there are exceptions to the trend—Airbnb, Adobe, Lyft, and more—that are sticking to their flexible remote work policies, several big tech behemoths have changed their minds in the post-pandemic world. Among them are:
📦 Amazon. In February, CEO Andy Jassy said most employees would be required to come into the office “at least three days per week” starting in May—a decision protested with a lunchtime demonstration and a 30,000+ member Slack channel. By August, not all employees were compliant, and Jassy warned “it’s probably not going to work out” for them.
📱 Apple. In June 2022, the iPhone maker asked employees to come in at least three days a week. Less than a year after that, the company was apparently tracking attendance and threatening action against those who refused to fulfill that mandate.
🔍 Google. The search giant, which began mandating that workers return to the office in April 2022, in July encouraged remote workers to go “hybrid” and come into the office. This June, like Apple, Google started tracking attendance. The company even started offering a $99 per night “Summer Special” sale for an on-campus hotel to cut commutes for hybrid workers by giving them the option to stay overnight, CNBC reported, citing promotional materials and internal forums it viewed.
📝 Twitter (now X). Last November, Elon Musk reversed Twitter’s flexible policy and told employees to come in for 40 hours a week. In March, he even emailed staff at 2:30am to double down on this stance and say “office is not optional.”
🔌 Meta. In June, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp told employees assigned to an office to return to in-person work three days a week starting Sept. 5. The company touted physical workplaces as better sites for collaboration and connection.
💻 Salesforce. The Slack-parent company tried philanthropy to entice people back onsite. Between June 12 and 24 this year, the software giant launched a “Connect for Good” campaign, wherein Salesforce pledged to donate $10 to a local charity for each day a worker comes into the physical office.
👨💻 Zoom. Even the videoconferencing company that enables working from home is asking workers to come into the office at least two days a week as of August.