Toyota wants salaried staff back in office four days a week

DETROIT: Toyota Motor Corp.’s salaried workers in North America are being ordered back to the office Monday through Thursday starting in September, making it the latest company to require more employees to show up regularly at their desks.

The requirement will apply to employees at all job levels at Toyota Motor North America and Toyota Financial Services, except for a few specific excluded roles, Toyota said in an internal memo seen by Bloomberg and confirmed Monday by a company representative.

Toyota said in the memo that staff can continue to work from home on Fridays "subject to business needs,” and that the new policy would not apply during four week-long periods each year, including the weeks around the July 4 and Labor Day holidays.

It denied the move is designed to reduce headcount but warned failure to comply could lead to "termination of employment.”

"A more in-person work environment will help us work efficiently and effectively together and facilitate more mentoring and growth opportunities - ultimately strengthening our culture and team effectiveness,” Toyota wrote. The memo was accompanied by a video with the heads of the two Toyota units addressing the changes, the company confirmed.

The Japanese carmaker is one of many large employers in the US ordering workers to their desks in recent months, ending policies implemented during the Covid pandemic.

AT&T Inc. and Sweetgreen Inc. told non-frontline staff earlier this month to get back to corporate locations more often.

And Amazon.com Inc.’s CEO informed corporate employees in a September decree that a shift to five days in the office in 2025 would strengthen collaboration, connections and its overall culture.

Wall Street banks have said that remote workers aren’t likely to get promoted as they miss out on in-person mentoring and learning opportunities. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has told its employees to return to the office five days a week.

Automakers have tightened up return-to-work policies as well. Stellantis NV, owner of the Jeep and Ram brands, reversed a 70% remote-work policy for workers in October following a shakeup in management and now wants staff in the office three days a week, on average.

Ford Motor Co. has shifted to a three-day-a-week hybrid model last year. General Motors Co., in a similar vein, has scrapped a flexible "Work Appropriately” policy last year in favour of requiring workers to report Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Nissan Motor Co. said it plans to shift to a minimum of three days a week in the office for most salaried staff in the US as of April 1.

A representative for Honda Motor Co.’s US subsidiary had no immediate comment on its work-from-home policy other than to say it hasn’t changed recently.

Despite the high-profile mandates, offices in major US cities were only about half full for much of last year compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to security firm Kastle Systems.

The share of companies that are in the office five days a week declined slightly to 32% in the fourth quarter, according to the Flex Index, which tracks attendance policies covering 100 million workers across more than 13,000 companies.

But the moves by blue chips such as Amazon, AT&T and JPMorgan Chase this year might give other employers an impetus to shift to more stringent policies in the coming months, workplace experts have said.

Toyota consulted with its suppliers, dealers and other partners to determine that the Monday through Thursday requirement was the best option and ensured people would be in the office at standard times, it said in the memo.

The rules will also apply to temporary and contingent staff, and go into effect as of Sept 2.

The requirements also will apply to workers who have moved away from company locations, the letter explained. Toyota’s factory workers have already been working onsite five days or more a week.