the insurance company Farmers Group is in the middle of a labor controversy currently facing several sectors and companies, such as Google. Its previous CEO, Jeff Daileypromised that most employees would maintain the permanent home office, but its new CEO, Raul Vargasbacked out of the commitment and now requires them to return to the office, at least under a hybrid scheme.
The problem? Many of the workers made crucial decisions such as selling their house and moving to cities far from the offices.. Therefore, the return to face-to-face work changes their plans completely.
The US insurer announced the change last May, and it will take effect next September. Of course, the company’s staff have not reacted very well to the paradigm shift and have threatened to resign en masse or unionize.
According to reports from The Wall Street Journalmanaged to access an internal document with more than 2,000 comments from staff complaining about the new measure.
“I made a key decision based on a lie”, “I sold my house and moved close to my grandchildren” and “How sad that I made a huge financial decision based on a lie”, read between the messages. “I was hired as a remote employee and was promised that this was the culture of the company for the long term,” someone else pointed out.
The home office sounded good during the pandemic, but now…
Vargas has held the position since January 2023, and only a few months ago he announced the decision, emphasizing that employees have only three months to “adapt and make arrangements” in their employment.
“Following the pandemic, Farmers Group management decided that the organization will move to a hybrid work environment starting in September. It is a combined approach that we believe will allow us to continue to offer the flexibility that we all value, while reaping the benefits of the office environment,” a company spokesperson told The New York Post.
“The decision to adopt virtual work at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 made sense at the time, and adopting a hybrid approach in September 2023 is what makes sense for our organization now,” the company stressed.
The spokesperson clarified that “employees within a 50-mile radius of a Farmers office will work from their respective office location at least three days per week and will have the flexibility to work remotely two days per week.”
He added that about 60% of the positions will be hybrid, while other roles will be virtual or in the office. “We are regularly evaluating and adapting our ways of working to align with business needs,” the spokesperson added.
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.