Vodafone, a British telecommunications firm, will withhold bonuses from employees who fail to comply with its return-to-office (RTO) policy, The Register reported this week.
Last week, Vodafone reminded employees of its RTO policy requiring workers to be in-office “2–3 times a week, or at least eight days a month,” according to a memo viewed by The Register. The memo also reportedly detailed the consequences of failing to adhere to the policy, which sets a guideline for compliance by the end of the company’s first fiscal quarter in July:
Employees who are not fully compliant with our hybrid working policy by the end of Q1 may be subject to disciplinary action in line with policy. Continued non-compliance with attendance expectations could result in a final written warning, which would mean individuals are not meeting the minimum performance standards and therefore would not be eligible for a bonus in 2026 or in subsequent years in which a final warning is given.
The strict policy comes as tech and other firms struggle to get employees to voluntarily return to offices. In desperation, some companies have resorted to tactics like tracking employee badge swipes and VPNs. Vodafone is looking to lure employees into the office by threatening their income, similar to Dell’s approach of making remote workers ineligible for promotions.
Vodafone told The Register that its hybrid work policies remain the same as they were in 2021, when the company first started allowing remote work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, anonymous “insiders” told The Register that Vodafone started heightening efforts to get people to work in the office eight days a month during the last nine months, and, according to one of the people who The Register spoke with, “it is now a mandate.”
