Brandon Bell
Dell has issued a return-to-office mandate calling for all of its sales workers to work from the office five days a week.
The tech giant sent a memo to its entire global sales team on Thursday, requiring them to be in the office all week from Monday.
Bill Scannell, Dell's president of global sales and customer operations, and John Byrne, its president of sales, global regions, and Dell Tech Select, announced the new policy in an internal email, seen by Business Insider.
"The expectation is that ALL Global Sales team members who can work from a Dell office be onsite five days a week, regardless of role," they wrote in the memo.
In February, Dell told workers who opted in for hybrid work that three days on-site a week was sufficient.
The company also began monitoring their attendance by tracking badge swipes and categorizing workers with color-coded flags.
But workers told BI that Dell's vision of in-office work wasn't panning out as planned. Over half the company had opted to stay remote, meaning many offices were empty. Others had multiple team members in different time zones, so were still communicating over Zoom.
"I do the same thing that I would at home, talk to the same people who are in a different office, and then I spend an hour in traffic coming home," one employee in the sales division told BI.
Scannell and Byrne said this week's move would help it to harness an environment of "high energy" and help staffers to grow their skills.
The memo also said, "As we enter a new AI world, in-person human interaction will be more important than ever."
The policy follows a major restructuring of the sales division announced in August as part of what leaders termed its "modernization journey."
Dell streamlined sales teams, introduced new AI-enabled processes, and carried out some of the largest layoffs in the company's recent history.
At the time, Vivek Mohindra, SVP of Corporate Strategy at Dell, told BI that the hybrid approach was "an important way of working."
"The hybrid approach allows us to not only be able to bring people in the room and have those conversations and move much faster, but also at the right times, be able to use the remote aspects of their work to be able to execute those," Mohindra said.
The new policy follows Amazon's announcement earlier this month that it will end its remote working arrangements, with CEO Andy Jassy telling employees to be in the office five days a week from January.
Dell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI, made outside normal working hours.
Read the full memo below:
Hi Team,
This sales force has a culture of winning and a reputation of outpacing the competition. We are the best in the business! That doesn't come without dedicated focus, perseverance and grit. To uphold this legacy, we must continuously work at it. To grow faster than the market and take share, we must always be sharpening our edge.
This Sales floor is a unique environment that combined high energy with a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. To harness this energy and grow skills, we believe our sales teams need to be together in the office. Additionally, our data shows that sales teams are more productive when onsite.
With that in mind, starting Monday, Sept. 30, the expectation is that ALL Global Sales team members who can work from a Dell office be onsite five days a week, regardless of role. Field sellers are expected to spend five days a week with customers and partners or in a Dell Technologies office. Field sellers who can't go into a Dell office should prioritize time spent in person with customers and partners. Remote sales team members who can't go into a Dell office should continue to work remotely. More communications pertaining to remote workers will be sent in the coming weeks.
Yes, this is a shift from current expectations. The industry and technology are moving fast, the opportunity is enormous and we need to ensure we are best positioned to seize it. We know situations will arise when you need to work remotely. This is expected, but working remotely should be the exception rather than routine. We also know many of you have organized your lives around three days in the office and you may need some time to make new arrangements.
Global Facilities will continue to assess neighborhood capacity and will address any future needs.
When we're not traveling to meet with customers and partners, we are in the office. When you step onto the Sales floor with all team members onsite, the energy is amazing — it's dynamic and fast-paced. Sales managers are actively engaged on the floor, not from a distance, providing real-time feedback, guidance and support.
Our strength lies in a culture of collaborating, winning and celebrating together. As we enter a new AI world, in-person human interaction will be more important than ever.
Let's go win, outpace the competition, seize every opportunity and take share!
Bill and John.
Bill Scannell
President, Global Sales & Customer Operations
John Byrne
President, Sales, Global Regions, Dell Tech Select
Implementation will be subject to local laws, regulations and practices, including works council and employee representative consultation where applicable.
Are you a worker at Dell or another company pushing staff back to the office? Contact the reporter Polly Thompson in confidence at pthompson@businessinsider.com
