Washington Post CEO William Lewis announced Thursday that his employees will be required to work outside the paper's office five days a week starting in June.
Lewis broke the news after thanking employees for their “hard work and dedication” covering the 2024 presidential election.
“Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication during this important week for America and the world,” Lewis said. I wrote it in my notes. “We provided great journalism for our clients and the office was a vibrant place.”
“I want that great energy in the office every day,” he added. “I’m definitely hearing what things were like here before COVID-19, and it’s important that we get that back.”
Lewis, who is also the newspaper's publisher, ordered managers to return to the office full-time by February 3, 2025, and all other employees to work five days a week from June 2, 2025. I ordered it to start.
“We know that for some people, this shift from three to five days in the office will be a welcome and easy transition,” he wrote. “For others, we know it's an adjustment. You may have to adjust your routine and rediscover old ways of managing your work-life balance.”
“That's why many of our colleagues are giving us more than six months to get through this,” Lewis added.
The Washington Post is currently allowing employees to work from home two days a week.
The union representing many of the publisher's employees said it was “regretted” by the office work memo and called the policy “outdated”.
“Like many of you, we believe that despite four years of successful flexible working, the Post newspaper is inflexible and does not reflect the realities of our work and lives. We are saddened to learn that they plan to implement outdated office work policies,” the Washington Post Guild said in an article. Email to membersobtained by the Washingtonian.
“Guild leaders see this for what it is: a change that will further disrupt our work rather than improve productivity or collaboration,” the union said.
The executive order came weeks after Mr. Lewis canceled the paper's planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, a move that upset some employees and subscribers. .
Billionaire Jeff Bezos of the Washington Post defends his decision not to endorse Harris or any future political candidate, saying it will have no impact on the election and will only “create a perception of bias” He claimed that.
