Businesses offering remote work are dropping like flies, with Deutsche Bank announcing that its employees must be in the office at least three days a week.
The remote work trend from the days of the pandemic is long behind us, with an avalanche of return-to-office mandates hitting employees across the country. Despite statistics that show the value of remote work, these businesses are dead set on getting workers back to their commute.
Despite being a vocal proponent of remote work, Deutsche Bank now joins the ranks of businesses that don’t care about employee wellbeing or, apparently, their bottom line.
Deutsche Bank Announces Return-to-Office Mandate
A memo to Deutsche Bank employees, acquired by Bloomberg, stated that managers across the company must report to the office at least four days per week, while other employees will be required to be in the office at least three days per week, starting in June 2024.
“Its new guidelines will ensure consistency across the bank and strengthen senior leadership presence in the office, which remains the primary place of work.” – Deutsche Bank memo to employees
The explanation is similar to that of other return-to-office mandates across the business world, providing little data and plenty of platitudes in hopes of encouraging employees to resume their commute.
A Full 180 from Deutsche Bank
The news likely comes as quite a shock to the nearly 85,000 employees at Deutsche Bank, as the financial institution offered a considerably flexible work from home policy during and after the pandemic.
Prior to this news, employees were encouraged, “on a voluntary basis to work remotely up to 40-60% of their time based on their role, activity and country,” according to the Deutsche Bank HR website.
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Even worse, Deutsche Bank has previously been quite public about the success of its remote work policy, publishing studies and infographics lording its productivity numbers while working from home. And considering 70% of employees appreciated the flexibility and 87% said they felt more productive, Deutsche Bank is still getting rid of the popular employee perk.
The Value of Remote Work
You might assume, because of all the return-to-work mandates hitting employees across the world, that there are studies showing remote work actively contributing to lower revenues, impeding productivity, and a general drain on the success of businesses.
However, no such statistics exist. In fact, quite the opposite is true, with the majority of studies showing that productivity improves, mental health increases, and employees and employers alike are better off when employees are given flexibility with work-from-home options.
In most cases, though, these decision makers aren’t worried about employee wellbeing or even the productivity of their work. Whether it be control, loneliness, or commercial real estate prices, the reasoning for these return-to-work mandates remains a mystery to the employees that have to endure them.
