Dell mandates sales staff to return to office full-time

Dell is ordering its global sales staff to return to the office five days a week. It said it was needed to harness the “unique environment” of the company’s sales floor.

The technology company outlined the new policy in an email sent to employees on Thursday (September 27th), requiring them to be back at the office full-time starting the following Monday.

“The expectation is that ALL Global Sales team members who can work from a Dell office be onsite five days a week, regardless of role,” the email read.

Until now, Dell employees who opted in for hybrid work were expected to be onsite three days a week. The company acknowledged that “many of you have organized your lives around three days” and “may need some time to make new arrangements.”

Dell said the move would help staffers harness the “high energy” office environment and help them grow their skillsets. “Additionally, our data shows that sales teams are more productive when onsite,” the company said.

The internal letter was signed by Bill Scannel, Dell’s president of global sales and customer operations, and John Byrne, its president of sales, global regions, and Dell Tech Select.

“Yes, this is a shift from current expectations. The industry and technology are moving fast, the opportunity is enormous and we need to ensure we are best positioned to seize it,” the email said.

It said remote sales team members who can’t go into a Dell office should continue working remotely, while field sellers are still expected to prioritize time spent in person with customers and partners.

In a statement to Cybernews, Dell said: "We continually evolve our business so we’re set up to deliver the best innovation, value, and service to our customers and partners. That includes more in-person connection to drive market leadership."

Turning tide

The change of policy comes after the company's controversial decision earlier this year to start monitoring the in-office attendance of its hybrid employees in the US by tracking their badge swipes.

Business Insider reported that this data would then be made visible on each hybrid worker’s HR profile and used to categorize employees with a blue, green, yellow, or red flag every quarter.

Dell is the latest high-profile company to demand their employees return to the office full-time. Earlier this month, tech giant Amazon told employees that they were expected to work from the office five days a week starting January next year.

Amazon’s chief executive, Andy Jassy, said in a statement that the return to the office will help the company to “further strengthen our culture and teams.”

According to Jes Osrow, co-founder of The Rise Journey, an HR consultancy, office culture can support an engaged and collaborative environment but “it can also be toxic and micromanage-y just as easily.”

“By forcing everyone to return to the office, it means the office life and well-being needs to be managed in a full-time, hands-on capacity. Most companies with a forced return to the office aren’t taking the time or providing resources to do this correctly,” Osrow said.

Forced return-to-the-office mandates also “homogenize” the workforce, which could have a negative economic impact.

“Additionally, a mandatory return to the office without flexibility of hybrid or remote-only roles can have a dramatic exclusionary impact, particularly on working parents – usually working mothers – and those with both visible and invisible disabilities,” Osrow said.