In early August, Zoom announced a surprising decision, according to which some of its employees must return to offices, where they should work more efficiently. An audio recording of the meeting then became public, in which CEO Eric Yuan expresses the opinion that “remote work didn’t allow people to build as much trust or be as innovative”.
The statements of the top representative of the company are controversial in their own way. Zoom provides the technology for video conferencing that it promises “immersive office collaboration from home”. It is therefore not surprising that many technical media started to deal with this discrepancy – among others, Ars Technica whether Gizmodo.
The controversial statement of the CEO
Yuan’s claim was made at a company meeting held on August 3, where he told co-workers that the main reason for returning to offices is the effort to build more trust among employees. “In our early days, we all knew each other. We’ve taken on so many new ‘zoomies’ in the last few years that it’s really hard to build trust.” Yuan said, describing the situation facing many companies hiring new workers during the pandemic.
At the same time, Zoom is supposed to be a product that allows you to build trust and relationships with employees working remotely. Its home page boasts that it helps teams become “more connected, more collaborative and smarter”. On the page promoting Zoom Meetings, it states that 95% “customers switching to Zoom report an increase” performance and trust among team members.
Yuan thus indirectly said that his company’s flagship product for remote work it doesn’t allow employees to build as much trust or be as innovative as in the office. These comments are surprising given the role Zoom plays in remote work. This video conferencing service became so widespread at the beginning of the pandemic that its name became synonymous with any video chat to connect with coworkers.
“Trust is the foundation of everything,” Yuan said. “Without trust, we will be slow.” Another reason Yuan wants employees in offices is to drive innovation, which he says comes from more passionate conversations and debates that don’t happen as often over Zoom.
“You come up with great ideas quite often, but when we’re all on Zoom it’s really hard,” Yuan said. „We can’t have a quality conversation. We can’t debate each other wellbecause when you join a Zoom call, everyone tends to be very friendly.”
Hello to the offices!
Zoom requires employees who live within 50 miles of the office to come in person at least two days a week. Employees who, for any reason, do not agree to this policy may request an exception from their supervisor.
Although Yuan certainly did not gain much popularity among the employees with his statements, he is far from the first CEO of a technology firmwho asked workers to return to offices after the lockdowns caused by the disease covid-19.
Earlier this summer, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ordered employees to spend at least three days a week in the office, failing which they could lose their jobs. Apple has reportedly started recording the attendance of those who go to work in the office.
2023-09-03 14:45:19
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