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A hot potato: Another company has decided to drag its employees back to the office full-time while blasting the alleged disadvantages of remote and hybrid work. Nothing, the British firm behind several stylish and well-received phones and earbuds, has decided that "Remote work is not compatible with a high ambition level plus high speed." CEO Carl Pei wants workers back five days per week, suggesting that those unable to make this commitment should leave the company.
Pei made the announcement to his 450 employees in an internal email last Friday that he later shared on LinkedIn. He notes that when the company started in 2020, Covid rules meant that fully remote work was the only option.
Nothing later moved to a hybrid work schedule at its London site and fully in-office at other sites. Now, it is transitioning to fully in-office at London, too.
Pei said there were three reasons why hybrid and remote setups are not right for Nothing's business. First, the fact the company makes physical products means design, engineering, manufacturing, and quality have to collaborate closely.
Second, Pei said creativity and innovation allow Nothing to compete with bigger companies, and these things do not work well remotely, apparently.
Third, the CEO said remote work was not compatible with Nothing's ambitions of becoming a generation-defining company that moves fast.
Pei essentially told employees unwilling or unable to come into the office five days per week to quit, though he did so using typical CEO-speak: "We know it's not the right type of setup for everybody, and that's OK," he wrote. "We should look for a mutual fit. You should find an environment where you thrive, and we need to find people who want to go the full mile with us in the decades ahead."
Pei's phrasing brings to mind a similar message from Andy Jassy last year. The Amazon CEO told employees who didn't want to return to the office that "It's probably not going to work out for you."
Most companies calling back workers adopt a 3-day per week hybrid work setup, and even that has been causing outcry among staff who say they are more productive and certainly happier being at home full time. Other companies, such as those belonging to Elon Musk, have been much harsher in their demands: get in the office at least 40 hours per week or leave.
CEOs (and former CEOs) don't seem to care very much about employee happiness, of course. Ex-Google boss Eric Schmidt recently blamed Google's hybrid work policy for it lagging behind OpenAI, though he later said he "misspoke" and regretted his error.