Washington Post CEO William Lewis informed employees Thursday that they will be required to work out of the newspaper’s offices five days a week starting in June.
Lewis delivered the news after thanking employees for their “hard work and dedication” covering the 2024 presidential election.
“Thank you all very much for your hard work and dedication in this significant week for America and the world,” Lewis wrote in a memo. “We produced wonderful journalism for our customers and the office was a vibrant place to be.”
“I want that great office energy for us every day,” he added. “I am reliably informed that is how it used to be here before Covid, and it’s important we get this back.”
Lewis, who is also the paper’s publisher, ordered that managers return to the office full-time by Feb. 3, 2025, and that all other employees start coming in five days a week starting on June 2, 2025.
“We know for some people this shift from three to five days in the office will be welcomed and a straightforward transition,” he wrote. “For others, we know it will be an adjustment – you may need to adapt routines and rediscover old ways of managing work-life balance.”
“This is why we are giving more than six months for many of our colleagues to work it through,” Lewis added.
The Washington Post currently allows employees to work from home two days a week.
The union representing many of the publication’s employees said it was “distressed” to see the work-from-the-office memo, calling the policy “outdated.”
“Like many of you, we are distressed to learn that after four years of successful flexible work arrangements, The Post plans to institute an inflexible and outdated work-from-the-office policy that does not reflect the reality of our jobs or lives,” the Washington Post Guild said in an email to members, obtained by the Washingtonian.
“Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work than to improve our productivity or collaboration,” the union said.
The edict from management comes weeks after Lewis scrapped the paper’s planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, a move that ruffled the feathers of some employees and subscribers.
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of the Washington Post, defended the decision not to endorse Harris – or any political candidates going forward – by arguing that it wouldn’t have any effect on the election and would only “create a perception of bias.”
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