The Seattle Times reports that Microsoft is now cutting back on office space, despite a recent trend in the tech industry of summoning remote workers back to their desks.
Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft's cloud and AI division, told employees during an all-hands meeting that its remote work friendly policy wouldn't change unless productivity wanes.
Guthrie didn't give many specifics on how productivity among employees could falter, according to a report in Business Insider confirmed by The Seattle Times, and Microsoft's recent performance shows a decline probably isn't in the foreseeable future. The company reported a record $245 billion in revenue June for its fiscal 2024, with $88 billion in profit, according to regulatory filings.
Microsoft hasn't had to deal with the strong reaction over in-person mandates that Amazon has, but as it continues to tweak the offices it's running to address the quirks of hybrid work. And unlike Amazon, Microsoft has benefited from the rise of hybrid and remote work with products devoted to it like Teams.
"Back to office" mandates mostly represent the personal philosophies of decisionmakers, moderated or empowered by how much control their companies have over leasing and real estate arrangements. So there's not so much news to write about beyond noting that "Managers want see managees at desks" or "Microsoft doesn't have a 10-year-lease on 5 million square feet of office space to justify." Ed Zitron has been appropriately scathing about the executives and the corporate culture of "performing performance" for a couple of hours a day in an office.
