- Dropbox CEO says RTO’s mandates are outdated in today’s modern world
- Drew Houston compares the rules with shopping centers and cinemas
- Dropbox has promoted hybrid running for some time
The Dropbox CEO, Drew Houston, attacked companies that force their employees to return to the office (RTO) instead of continuing hybrid work.
Speaking in an episode of FortuneThe “leadership leadership” podcast compared RTO orders with the tastes of shopping centers and cinemas, where similar offers to force people to retreat have proven to be less successful.
“We can be much less silly than forcing people to return to a car three days a week or whatever, to be literally back at the same zoom meeting they would have been at home,” said Houston. “There is a better way to do this.”
“Trust surveillance”
Dropbox has been at the forefront of encouraging hybrid work, since in 2021 he introduced a rule “90/10” where employees were allowed to work remotely during most of the year, and they were asked to attend some events outside the site to compensate the remaining 10%.
“Forcing people to return to the office will probably be like trying to force people to return to shopping centers and cinemas,” said Houston. “There is nothing wrong in the cinema, but now it is a different world.”
This is not the first time that Houston promotes the virtues of remote work: in 2023, he said that remote work has given companies “the keys that unlock all this future of work.”
“You need a different social contract and set aside control,” he added, “but if you trust people and treat them as adults, they will behave as adults. They will trust surveillance.”
Houston’s words occur after several important technology firms revealed RTO mandates.
This includes Google, who, according to reports, is applying a new hybrid work model by which employees are asked to come to the office at least three days per week, and those who do not meet could face consequences.
Dell also announced that he would finish his hybrid work policy, and any employee who lived within an hour of travel from an office now said he will go five days a week.
Through Business intern
