The parents work from home with their two sons due to the coronavirus outbreak in Paris in 2020.
Xavier Laine | Getty Images News | Getty Images
People have changed their minds about working from home since the coronavirus shut down the office last year, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said in a conference call with analysts Tuesday. At first, people liked the new distributed arrangements, but now some people want to go back to work, he said.
Cisco, whose network switches, phones and Wi-Fi hotspots are installed on corporate sites, are among the companies that can benefit from a large-scale return to the office. The state of the pandemic remains in flux, and Robbins’ words communicate the uncertainty surrounding the consequences and how it will affect business.
“I think we’ve kind of moved into that phase where people are mentally struggling, people are – they’re not happy,” Robbins said.
As Robbins speaks regularly with customers, he also communicates with Cisco employees. On the appeal, he made the contribution he had recently received to set out his views.
“One of our employees told me the other day:” I don’t mind the option of working from home. I don’t like being forced to work from home, “he said.
Cisco workers are facing other pressures. In August, after reporting three-quarters of the decline in revenue from trade challenges, Cisco, once the world’s most valuable company, announced a cost-cutting program that included offering voluntary early retirement. Cisco employees can work from home until June 30, a spokesman said.
Robbins has his own idea of the role of the office beyond Cisco.
“I really think it will be hybrid if people work from home and everyone lands in some way here, where they will work from home three days a week and work from the office two days a week and vice versa,” he said. “The question is what accommodation is leading for customers, based on employees’ concerns about space issues, concerns about future pandemics or other concerns. We just don’t know that yet. “
Technology companies promise more and more flexibility when it comes to working remotely when the pandemic ends. On Tuesday, Salesforce announced that most of its employees will work a “flex” program with one to three days in the office per week, while Twitter and Dropbox told employees that they can work from home permanently.
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