The CEO of consumer goods company Unilever has revealed that his employees will never return to their desks five days a week again.
This comes as the company has been heavily experimenting with new working patterns throughout the pandemic.
During a Reuters conference, Alan Jope stated that he doesn’t expect office employees in America and western Europe to come back to the workplace until at least April.
The organization will move forward with a hybrid work model for much of its 150,000 global staff, which would allow them to work from both the office and their homes.
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“We anticipate never going back to five days a week in the office,” said Jope. “That seems very old-fashioned now.”
However, Jope said that Unilever still wants to keep offices as part of its operations in order to help boost innovation and collaboration levels, which often take a hit with a fully remote workforce.
The company experimented with a four day work week with its New Zealand staff to boost workers’ productivity and well-being. Now, 81 employees will continue with this schedule until December, and then weigh whether to expand the policy globally.
Jope added that the group is also encouraging its employees to get a COVID-19 vaccination, but those who opted out would face mandatory testing.
