UPS Return to Office Mandate for Corporate Workers Takes Effect

Corporate employees at UPS returned to the office on Monday, March 4th, marking the first day that the company’s new policy requiring in-person work five days per week took effect.

UPS Ends its “Hybrid” Work Policy for Corporate Employees

In response to the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, UPS allowed corporate employees to work remotely. The company shifted its policy to a “hybrid” model in 2023, mandating that corporate employees report to the office at least three days per week. As of this week, that hybrid model has been replaced by full-time in-person work for the company’s corporate employees at UPS campuses around the world.

In a statement on the full-time return to office for corporate employees, UPS said the following:

“Today we welcomed non-operations UPS employees back into the office five days a week, globally. One of the hallmarks of our culture has been our in-person connections with our customers and the partnership forged from personal relationships cultivated day in and day out at work.”

Per the statement, the new policy applies to corporate, “non-operations” employees who work at the company’s metro Atlanta headquarters and other UPS sites around the world.

The Return to Office Policy Takes Effect Weeks After UPS Announced Layoffs

UPS announced the return to office mandate in January of 2024. Weeks later, the company instituted layoffs that affected 12,000 employees in the company’s global workforce, citing the move as a cost-saving measure since 2023 revenue declined year-over-year by 9.3%.

The company’s new policy also comes less than six months after Teamsters members ratified a five-year deal with UPS, which ended the threat of a potential strike that would have brought the company’s operations to a standstill. The five-year deal brought about changes such as pay raises for drivers, air conditioning in its delivery vans, and more.