Even work-from-home-job revolutionary Zoom orders staff for returning to office

Zoom, which spearheaded the revolution in remote work during the pandemic, is urging its staff to return to the workplace.

According to a statement released by Zoom, the company is now requiring a "structured hybrid approach," which states that employees who live close to an office "need to be onsite two days a week" because it‍‍`s "most effective" for the video-conferencing service.

"As a business, we are better able to employ our own technologies, keep innovating, and service our clients around the world. To keep our employees and distributed teams connected and productive, we‍‍`ll continue to use the complete Zoom platform, the business added.

Putting aside the irony, Zoom isn’t excluded from the return to office trend that’s sweeping tech companies. In recent months, Google, Amazon and Salesforce have enacted similar policies, ending a Covid-era approach that gave employees more freedom to work from home. However, businesses have faced some pushback from employees after workers grew accustomed to greater flexibility.

Even the White House is cracking down on remote work. Last week, it asked Cabinet agencies to bring federal workers back into the office more frequently in the coming months, according to an internal email obtained by CNN.

White House chief of staff Jeff Zients directive, which cites the administration’s in-person posture for the last two years, is the strongest indicator yet that it believes in-office attendance is critical for agencies to carry out its agenda, with a critical election around the corner.

Zoom has had its own difficulties as demand wanes following a pandemic-fueled surge. In February, Zoom cut approximately 15% of its staff, amounting to about 1,300 employees, after growing too quickly. Members of the executive leadership team also reduced their base salaries by 20% for the coming fiscal year and forfeited their fiscal year 2023 bonuses.

More than most companies, the videoconferencing service came to define the early days of the pandemic, as many turned to its platform to video chat with friends and colleagues during lockdowns. By mid-2020, Zoom reported skyrocketing revenue fueled by a spike in business customers from the many companies forced to turn to remote work.

Shares of the company are up about 4% for the year.