These GM salaried workers will have set in-office days each week

General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra told employees Tuesday the automaker is changing its return-to-work policy by requiring salaried workers within 50 miles of an assigned office location to work in person Tuesday through Thursday starting Jan. 8.

Employees should "at minimum" be in the office on those three days, Barra wrote in a Tuesday memo obtained by The Detroit News, adding: "Senior leaders will continue to have the flexibility to determine if a team needs to be in the office more frequently."

GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly confirmed the change to GM's policy, which came "in order to meet critical business needs and retain company culture," he said in a statement. Starting in January this year, GM required office workers to be in person three days a week but let them choose which days.

The change comes as companies across industries wrestle with how to get employees back in the office after the COVID-19 pandemic sent many workers home in 2020.

"Many executives believe that being back in the office is integral for establishing a workplace culture for innovation and collaboration," said Cynthia Schipani, a professor of business administration and business law at the University of Michigan, in a statement.

GM has 43,500 salaried workers in the United States and about 31,600 in Michigan. The company faced pushback last year when it called for salaried workers to return to the office.

Employees were upset because to them the move went against a previously introduced "Work Appropriately" model that gave teams the flexibility to work from home, a lab, an office or wherever they could do their best work. GM at the time noted that the model was not a "policy" when it was implemented.

The Detroit automaker and other companies used the flexibility of remote work during the pandemic to hire outside of Michigan and allow employees to work where they live. GM's latest change comes as numerous employers have adopted hybrid work arrangements.  

In her Tuesday memo, Barra noted "adherence has been mixed" on the automaker's return-to-office mandate.

"We realize ‘return to the office’ is a topic that has been highly debated in many workplaces around the country," she wrote.

"We believe the benefits of in-person collaboration and mentorship lead to a stronger, more innovative culture and higher performance. The pace of change is faster than ever, and we simply must do our best work."

GM isn't alone in seeing benefits of in-person work. A return-to-office mandate went into effect this September at Meta Platforms Inc., the company that owns Facebook and Instagram social media platforms, CNBC reported. The company is requiring employees to report to a physical location at least three days a week.

Angela Hall, an associate professor in human resources at Michigan State University, said the consensus on how an employer can best handle sending folks back to the office is to give them ample notice of a coming mandate.

"They should open up a place for employees to feel comfortable to give them feedback about those choices," Hall said. "I also think that it's important for employers to explain why they're doing things."

Even though some employers are sending employees back to work in-office, Hall thinks the hybrid in-office strategy is here to stay.

"Folks are like, 'I will go work for another employer if I have to do this commute every day," she said.

Nick Bloom, a Stanford University economics professor, said in a post last week on X that the latest data shows the "return to the office is dead."

"Levels of WFH (work-from-home) were falling throughout 2020 to 2022, and office occupancy was rising. That trend ended in 2023, with both now pancake flat," he wrote.

GM's Detroit competitors are keeping their existing work location arrangements for now. Stellantis’ “new era of agility” policy remains in place, spokesperson Jodi Tinson confirmed on Tuesday. Instituted in 2021, it estimated that employees who could would spend 70% of their time working remotely and 30% in the office as a part of an evaluation “to enable our teams to be their most innovative, creative and efficient,” according to a previous statement. The company also has suggested it could pursue a sale-leaseback on its Auburn Hills North American headquarters and technical center, under which it would sell the property and lease back space.

Ford Motor Co. doesn't haven't an in-office mandate. The automaker allows its managers to work with their employees on which days to meet for in-office collaboration.

khall@detroitnews.com

@bykaleahall

Breana Noble contributed.