Remote work? Zoom tells employees to return to office (NASDAQ:ZM)

LeoPatrizi

One of the biggest companies behind the remote work revolution is having its employees head back to the office. Staff who live within 50 miles of a Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) workplace must now be there at least two days per week, further cementing an industry shift towards hybrid models of work. It’s also big news for a company that beat Microsoft Skype (NASDAQ:MSFT), Cisco Webex (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Google Meet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (GOOGL) at their own game, and led the word “Zoom” to be synonymous with video-calling for entire industries.

Quote: “We believe that a structured hybrid approach – meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams – is most effective for Zoom,” a company spokesperson told Business Insider. “As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers. We’ll continue to leverage the entire Zoom platform to keep our employees and dispersed teams connected and working efficiently.”

Two themes are playing out in the latest development. One is the loss of market share and the supercharged growth of companies that benefited from pandemic driven trends (Zoom’s stock is down 88% from an all-time high of $559 in October 2020). The other is a force that could help tap the brakes on the commercial real estate meltdown. While office attendance appears to have stabilized, the latest study from McKinsey shows that it’s still 30% below pre-pandemic levels.

On the economy: The latest nonfarm payrolls figures on Friday showed that the great hiring boom in the aftermath of the pandemic continues to moderate. The Labor Department reported that 187K jobs were added in July (fewer than the 200K expected, and lower than the 312K average seen in Q1), and revised down its most recent May and June estimates by a combined 49K. That could help turn the tide in favor of employers once again, and tip the scale towards setups like hybrid work or even more time in the office.

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