'RIP WFH': Memes galore as Zoom asks staff to zoom back to office

Zoom, which became the most common means of communication while working from home during the Covid-19 lockdown, has ironically asked its staffers to return to the office for the first time since the pandemic.

The San Jose-based company, which is still the go-to video conferencing service, has asked all its employees within 50 miles of a company office to go on a hybrid schedule by working on-site at least two days a week.

“We believe that a structured hybrid approach – meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams – is most effective for Zoom. As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers,” a spokesperson told Business Insider.

“We’ll continue to leverage the entire Zoom platform to keep our employees and dispersed teams connected and working efficiently,” added the spokesperson.

According to the company website, Zoom has 14 global offices of which eight are in Asia, three in Europe, two in the US and one in Australia. Two of the Asian offices are located in India – Mumbai and Bengaluru.

An internal survey of Zoom staffers in 2021 revealed that only 1 per cent wanted to work full time in an office, while more than half of the employees preferred a flexible and hybrid schedule, according to Market Watch.

Following Zoom's move, social media was filled with reactions from users who were surprised by the twist.

One user posted on the X platform, saying, “Still On Brand? Of all the companies in the world, ZOOM is ending full-time remote #work for the 1st time since the onset of the pandemic. ZOOM told employees who live within 50 miles of a company office to come in to work 2 days a week going forward.”

Another tweet read, “In a surprising twist, the virtual meeting behemoth, #Zoom, is ushering its employees back to the physical office.”

One user wrote, "The irony of Zoom telling their staff to return to work and not work from home."

Yet another tweeted, “Zoom the company just said no more work from home for its employees lmao. The company who’s whole schtick is WFH.”

A fifth user posted, "RIP remote work: The work-from-home boom seems to be coming to an end as even @Zoom calls its employees back to the office."