A few months ago, Dell (DELL) decided to hop on a controversial trend in corporate America that has frustrated employees across the country.
In March, Dell began requiring employees who live within an hour away from an office to return to working in person five days a week. This is a stark change from the company’s previous hybrid work policy, which allowed employees to work from the office three days a week.
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In February, Dell CEO Michael Dell said in a memo to employees, which revealed the change, that the company was cutting remote and hybrid work due to the fast pace of innovation in the tech industry.
Related: Dell CEO sends a stern wake-up call to employees
“The pace of innovation has never been faster, and for us to lead, the speed of our business must continue to accelerate,” said Dell. “What we’re finding is that for all the technology in the world, nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction. A 30-second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days.”
He also said that after asking several teams to return to the office five days a week last year, the company has noticed that those teams have “come alive with new speed, energy, and passion.”
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Dell employees sound alarm on a major problem
Now that the change has taken full effect, Dell employees claim that enforcement of the new mandate has been inconsistent, which is causing “lots of in-office politics,” according to a new report from Business Insider.
While some employees work full time in the office, as the mandate requires, others have opted to leave their desks early to work from home.
“I personally have not been adhering to eight hours a day,” said one Dell employee while speaking to Insider. “I am aware I may be breaking the rules, but no one has corrected me yet.”
Another Dell employee even said that they will sometimes see their colleagues work in the office for “less than five minutes in and out.”
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A Dell program manager told Insider that much of the mandate’s enforcement level is “dependent on leaders,” claiming it felt “haphazard.”
They also said the different levels of enforcement are creating a “busy-body type environment” where “people on-site fight amongst each other based on who comes in and who doesn’t.”
Dell executive James Christmas even told some employees in the company’s client solutions group via email to “maintain a consistent presence in the office, with a minimum of four hours daily.”
Other teams, such as the sales team, have seen managers be more strict about enforcing the new return-to-office mandate.
Dell employees have previously rebelled against RTO
This is not the first time Dell has faced issues with getting its employees back into the office.
In February last year, the tech company began requiring most of its employees to work from the office three days a week for a minimum of 39 days each quarter.
The following month, Dell even began tracking employees through their badge swipes and VPN connections to monitor how often they worked from its office locations.
If employees failed to adhere to the mandate, they allegedly risked losing the opportunity to land a promotion or an internal job opportunity.
However, it was later reported that some Dell workers were ignoring the mandate because they weren’t afraid of losing out on job promotions, as there was allegedly a lack of opportunities at the company.
More companies are cutting remote work
Dell isn’t the only company that has drastically scaled back remote work. Amazon and JPMorgan Chase have also recently ordered their employees to work in the office five days a week, citing that in-person work sparks collaboration and innovation.
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As more companies change their tune about remote work, many employees nationwide aren’t too thrilled about the change.
According to a recent survey from FTI Consulting, 70% of U.S. employees who either work a hybrid or fully remote schedule said they are “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to look for a new place of employment if they are required to return to the office full time at their current salary.
Also, 45% of the employees in the survey said that working remotely or in a hybrid setting is one of the most critical aspects of their employment.
Related: IBM gives employees a rude awakening with harsh new policy
