Mandatory Return to Office Days: Company Refuses to Budge
/You want to keep flexibility. We're working on it.
“Employees should take it up with their managers.”
That’s the message IAPE received Friday from Dow Jones representatives during ongoing discussions over Return to Office plans. This follows a union proposal to reduce the required number of in-office days for News staff being pushed by management.
For weeks, IAPE has been reviewing company plans for several Dow Jones business areas. While each plan is different, IAPE believes the plans call for most employees to be categorized as "hybrid" workers, with a combination of at-home and in-office days.
The union has presented proposals in line with wishes of IAPE members: more employee flexibility and fewer mandatory days at Dow Jones offices. Company officials have been reluctant to move away from their initial proposals.
IAPE members want Dow Jones to thrive. We believe—you’ve told us—that a flexible work-from-home policy is the best way.
Working from home…works. For more than two years, members on the business and news sides have successfully adapted to client needs and world events. We’ve chronicled the pandemic, the 2020 election and the invasion of Ukraine, all while providing Dow Jones with a growing subscriber base and the highest profit in more than a decade.
Management plans received by IAPE call for varying degrees of in-office work for hybrid employees that could start as early as June:
WSJ Newsroom - At least three days per week
Experience - Three days per week
Barron’s Group - Two or three days per week
New Ventures - Two days per week, plus monthly all-hand meetings
Media Sales - At least two days per week
B2B - Up to two days per week
Membership - Up to two days per week
Print Services - Three days per month
Customer Service - One day per month
If you were hired during the pandemic, unless your offer letter explicitly states that you will remain a remote employee, Dow Jones intends for these RTO requirements to apply to you, too.
IAPE is fighting to make these plans more flexible. IAPE has also cautioned Dow Jones over potential large-scale departures of employees should management insist on having employees return to offices.
Dow Jones has published many articles that support the main ideas of our proposals. “Flexibility has become the top worker demand,” Barron’s writes. “People who worked from the office one to two days a week were more productive,” WSJ reports. “Two-thirds of respondents say they would consider looking for a new job if forced to return to the office full-time,” MarketWatch says.
Dow Jones reps have pledged to be flexible in addressing individual circumstances, and have suggested that employees should speak directly to managers if they have concerns about in-office schedules.
That’s not a bad idea.
If you are concerned that your department heads or the proposals by the company aren’t considering your needs, we suggest dropping them a line. Maybe something like, “Please negotiate fairly with the union over return-to-office issues and the required number of days working in-office.” Perhaps you would rather explain how you will be impacted by a switch back to in-office work.
Maybe you would prefer to email your immediate supervisor—they may feel the same way about RTO as you.
If contacting management to complain about the company’s inflexible proposals isn’t your style, you can always email IAPE. We’ll share your message for the company—anonymously, of course. We’ve already shared the results of our return-to-work survey, which show overwhelming support for minimal in-office days.
Dow Jones and IAPE will resume discussions on Tuesday afternoon. That’s plenty of time for you to contact your manager and union representatives. Let everyone know how you feel about the need for flexibility with in-office work.