Nike is strengthening its return-to-office (RTO) requirements for employees, mandating they spend at least four days each week in the office starting in January. The apparel giant hopes the policy change will foster more “power and energy” among its workers.
Key Details
- Nike currently requires workers to come into the office three days per week. The new policy will up that minimum to four days weekly.
- The change impacts Nike’s approximately 84,000 employees across offices worldwide.
- Nike leaders feel the company’s size and stature could prompt other major corporations to implement similar RTO mandates.
Why It’s Important
The COVID-19 pandemic forced a massive remote work experiment across corporate America. Even as case counts decline, many major companies have maintained flexible and hybrid policies, allowing at least some remote work.
Nike is leading a countercharge with its strengthened RTO mandate. The apparel titan believes its culture is best nurtured through in-person collaboration.
Requiring four weekly office days marks a clear departure from flexible remote policies adopted across the corporate landscape. With its outsized profile and 84,000 employees worldwide, Nike could prompt other companies to follow suit and impose stricter RTO requirements.
Major tech firms like Apple and Alphabet paved the way for flexible remote work. Nike’s actions fly in the face of tech’s work-from-anywhere ethos. They also contradict recent moves from other corporate giants supporting hybrid arrangements. For instance, Apple now requires workers to come in three days a week.
Nike’s decision aligns with views from some CEOs that remote work dampens collaboration and culture. Detractors argue workers lose out on mentorship, training, and other benefits from shoulder-to-shoulder engagement.
Nike’s actions buck the broad preference for flexibility. Only time will tell whether other corporate titans follow Nike’s lead in mandating more rigid RTO policies.