Dell mandates a return-to-office sparking panic among working parents

As many organizations attempt to pressure employees to return to in-person work, Dell, the American technology company with roughly 42,000 employees based in the U.S., is facing increased scrutiny. 

The company had previously given employees the option of choosing between hybrid or remote work in February, earlier this year, with the caveat that remote-based workers could not be eligible for promotions or role changes. Workers who chose the hybrid option were required to be in the office 39 days per quarter, or about three days a week. 

Yet Business Insider reported that on September 26, Dell’s sales team received a memo from the organization’s executives notifying them that the policy had changed and within two work days, they would be expected to work fully in-person five days a week. 

“The expectation is that ALL Global Sales team members who can work from a Dell office be on-site five days a week, regardless of role,” Bill Scanell and John Byrne, the company’s sales chiefs are quoted as saying in the internal memo, shared by Business Insider. 

While in-person attendance had previously been tracked, Dell employees told Business Insider that the system was flexible and many workers ended up leaving the office around lunchtime. When the memo was shared among employees on a Thursday, giving two working days notice to the policy change, there was reportedly widespread panic, especially among parents. 

“The biggest thing I saw from just being in the office that day ws parents freaking out,” one Dell employee said to Business Insider. “It’s one thing to already have child care set up and already having to pay that crazy amount, but having a weekend to figure it out,” he said. 

Now, many working parents are left scrambling to find suitable child care options, months into the school-year when many daycare programs have already started or become filled. Parents who aren’t able to secure care for their children are reportedly being expected to use PTO time. 

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“If we run out of that PTO, then we’re facing disciplinary actions,” one worker said to Business Insider. “It’s very disheartening. It makes me really not trust the company.” 

Now, hybrid Dell employees working in other departments fear the same policy amendments will be enforced upon them. Remote workers also fear that changes will lie in the months ahead. 

“It’s very disappointing that a company such as Dell, which supposedly prides itself on pushing a good work-life balance, has instead cultivated a fear of losing one’s job if we don’t have ‘butts in the seat,’” another employee said to Business Insider.