[Real Beat] Even 'Zoom,' the Biggest Beneficiary of Remote Work, Says "Come to Work 2 Days a Week"

Decision Made After Performance Decline... Employees Express Dissatisfaction

Editor's Note[Jjinbit] is a shortened form of 'Jung Hyunjin's Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a segment that showcases trends in changes in work.

As global companies have been successively ending remote work and pushing for office returns, even Zoom, a video conferencing service company considered one of the biggest beneficiaries of COVID-19, has ordered its employees to come to the office. The company stated that this measure was due to deteriorating performance, but with strong employee backlash, attention is focused on how this will affect Zoom's employment and performance going forward.

According to the New York Times (NYT) and others on the 7th (local time), Zoom recently issued a notice to employees living within 50 miles of its headquarters in San Jose, California, USA, requiring them to come to the office at least two days a week starting this month or next month.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Zoom told its employees, "We have determined that a structured hybrid approach, meaning being on-site to interact with the team, is the most effective for Zoom," adding, "We will continue to utilize the entire Zoom platform to connect employees and distributed teams efficiently."

The hybrid work system, mixing remote work and office attendance, has been adopted by many global companies since last year. Companies such as Amazon, Google, Meta Platforms, and Starbucks have ended full remote work and implemented this system by requiring employees to work some days in the office each week.

However, Zoom's announcement of returning to the office has attracted even greater attention than other companies. This is because Zoom, a video conferencing platform, was considered one of the biggest beneficiaries of COVID-19.

When the COVID-19 outbreak occurred in 2020, workers worldwide began working from home instead of offices, and Zoom gained explosive popularity. The fatigue caused by continuous video meetings at home led to the coining of the term 'Zoom fatigue,' highlighting the significant impact Zoom had on remote work.

Accordingly, Zoom's performance was greatly influenced by the global remote work trend.

In early 2020, during the initial COVID-19 outbreak, Zoom's revenue surged by over 400%, and its stock price rose nearly tenfold within a year to $559. However, as the COVID-19 situation eased somewhat in 2021 and some companies pushed for office returns, the stock price plummeted, and this year it has fallen back to the $60 range, the level before the pandemic.

Zoom's office return announcement came amid deteriorating performance. As the endemic era (the transition of the infectious disease to an endemic) began and remote work started to shrink, Zoom experienced a decline in performance. In February, it laid off 1,300 employees, and Eric Yuan, Zoom's CEO, announced he would cut 98% of his salary and forgo bonuses.

At the earnings announcement in May, CEO Yuan said, "I believe the hybrid work model will continue," adding, "Allowing employees to work from anywhere has become a kind of trend. Getting them to come back is not easy."

This decision affects more than 7,600 employees worldwide, including in the United States. Internally, there are already complaints that coming to the office wastes time and money on commuting.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.