Home Depot’s new return-to-office requirement: Come in four days a week

“We think some of our most valuable work is done when we’re together in the same place,” a Home Depot spokesperson said Tuesday in a written statement. “Recently, we asked some teams that had been primarily working from home to begin coming into the office four days a week beginning in June.”

The new policy applies to employees at Home Depot’s headquarters who have been working from home, joining the majority of corporate associates who have been going into work four days a week. However, some teams will remain remote.

Credit: David Goldman

Credit: David Goldman

The return-to-office debate has vexed many companies and workers. Executives often want their teams on-site and tout the collaborative benefits of employees being in one place. Many white-collar workers, meanwhile, have enjoyed the flexibility of working from home at least part of the time.

Pew Research Center polling in October found more workers say their employers are requiring at least some time in the office. Seventy-five percent of workers who aren’t self-employed but hold telework jobs said in October their employers have minimum in-office work requirements, up from 63% in February 2023.

That same poll found that nearly half of workers whose jobs can be performed remotely said they would be unlikely to stay in their current roles if their employers no longer allowed them to work from home.

Since the start of the pandemic, many companies have also reassessed their office needs — real estate is a huge expense for many employers — which is reflected in part with Atlanta having a historically high rate of office space available for lease. About a third of Atlanta-area office space is either vacant or otherwise available to rent, according to commercial real estate services firm CBRE, though leasing activity is picking up.

Many companies have offered workers perks to return to their desks, including free food or other amenities. The return-to-office movement, however, has had its ups and downs.

Amazon announced a plan for a five-day return-to-office but delayed it in some locations because it doesn’t have enough office space, Business Insider reported.

Walmart last year asked many of its remote workers to return to the office and asked some employees to relocate to its corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, and other hubs, The Wall Street Journal reported. The policy prompted some backlash, according to news reports.

Home Depot’s move comes after Sandy Springs-based UPS created a stir last year when it became one of highest-profile companies in Georgia to mandate white-collar workers come into the office five days a week.

Both UPS and Home Depot have thousands of workers who reported to work in person throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as package handlers or drivers, warehouse workers, retail employees or in other positions.

But for many desk jockeys who grew accustomed during the pandemic to working from the comfort of their homes without the commute, employers’ push to get them back into the office has stung.

After the UPS policy was announced in January last year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution invited readers to weigh in on return to office policies.

Responses to the nonscientific poll showed a wide variation in how many days a week employees are going into the office, with many working from home exclusively, and others going into the office one to five days a week.

Many responded that they prefer working from home exclusively, while others said at the time they would prefer to go in one to two days a week, and some would like to go in more days a week.