Zoom finally asks employees to return to the office after COVID — still requires just 2 days in office per week

Zoom, the video calling application, has finally asked some employees to return to in-office work for the first time since coronavirus-related lockdowns saw many politicians force citizens to work remotely.

Zoom Video Communications is requiring employees who live within 50 miles of their office to return to in-person employment at least two days per week. Its main headquarters is located in San Jose, California.

"We believe that a structured hybrid approach – meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams – is most effective for Zoom," a Zoom spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. "As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers."

Zoom saw a massive increase in the value of its shares during the height of the COVID-19 restrictions, peaking at a massive $478 per share in November 2020. At the start of that year, the shares were worth just over $76.

As of August 7, 2023, that value had plummeted back down to under $69, the lowest it's been since late 2019.

According to Fox News, the massive downswing is due to what the company has put off for so long: a return to in-person work. Workers around the world returning to their offices cost the company at least $100 billion in market value.

"We'll continue to leverage the entire Zoom platform to keep our employees and dispersed teams connected and working efficiently," the spokesperson added.

Zoom announced in January 2022 that just 2% of of its workforce would be returning to the office. “Workers genuinely want choice, and they are choosing to continue to work at home,” Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg told MarketWatch.

Steckelberg even said at the time that she would work remotely from central Texas, with California and east coast executives doing the same. The CFO claimed that large gatherings of employees would happen only a few times a year and only for special occasions.

The tables certainly appear to have turned on the company that employs more than 8,400 across the globe. Along with the aforementioned San Jose headquarters, it also has a second U.S. location in Denver, Colorado.

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