Spotify has confirmed that it is bucking the trend of ending remote work and committing to its policy for staff to work from anywhere that it initiated during the COVID pandemic.
But while it doesn’t intend to begin forcing employees to return to the office, executives at the the streaming giant do still see the value of in-person working and intend to find ways to encourage workers to go to there.
With the likes of Amazon, Dell and Ubisoft all issuing return to office (RTO) mandates, Spotify is in a minority of big tech firms that see the value of a more flexible approach to working.
‘Digital From Birth’
Spotify’s stance on remote working was confirmed by its chief human resources officer, Katarina Berg, in an interview with business website Raconteur.
She made the assertion that work is “something you do” rather than a place you go to and that a company like Spotify that has been “digital from birth” should be willing to give its staff the flexibility and freedom of choosing where they carry out their duties.
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“You can’t spend a lot of time hiring grown-ups and then treat them like children.” – Katarina Berg, CHRO of Spotify
Raconteur’s report suggests that Spotify – who laid off 200 workers last year – hasn’t seen any evidence of a negative impact on productivity since making its flexible working approach official policy in February 2021.
“You can’t develop a great product if you don’t have great people,” added Berg in her justification for the company’s policy.
Singing the Same Tune
Although Spotify is currently ruling out the heavy-handed RTO approach taken by other companies, Berg nevertheless acknowledged the value of face-to-face collaboration and that some workers prefer to be in the office.
The company has established an annual ‘core week’ where staff are urged to spend time in-person with each other – a move that she states has worked really well and energizes its personnel.
“We try to find things that make people want to come into the office rather than forcing them to,” says Berg, citing star appearances from musicians as another perk the business has previously offered.
To Return or Not to Return
Since the end of the COVID pandemic, more and more businesses have issued RTO mandates to curtail remote and hybrid working. While Spotify has stated its position not to do likewise, Berg has sympathy for CEOs who “are going back to what they know”.
The latest tech mega power to announce the end of hybrid work, Amazon is demanding that its staff return to the office five days per week from January onwards. Dell issued a similar demand last month, but with immediate effect.
But it’s not all one-way traffic. It was recently revealed that Microsoft is sticking with a hybrid approach at the moment, fearing that a forced return to office full time could cost good employees leaving the company for a competitor.
Indeed, a recent study showed that more than two-fifths of job hunters would reject a job offer with no hybrid option.
