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Publicis Media has fired close to 100 employees in its US workforce who consistently ignored the company’s return-to-office (RTO) policy.
According to a source familiar with the matter, less than 1% of US employees were affected, with under 100 employees let go—but, the source first reported to PRWeek US, the number was in the high double digits.
Publicis Media employees across the globe are required to be in the office three days per week, with Monday a mandatory day for on-site attendance.
Publicis fires employees for “egregious” RTO mandate violations
Publicis Media has over 10,000 employees in the US. In October 2023, CEO Arthur Sadoun introduced the RTO mandate, explaining to employees that he believed remote work has “sometimes stunted creativity.”
Under the mandate, employees must attend the office on a Monday and cannot work remotely for consecutive days.
“We have been clear and consistent about our policy that employees work from the office at least three days a week, an expectation that is being met and exceeded by the majority of our talent,” a spokesperson for Publicis Media US stated, adding that they would not offer further comment on individual employment matters.
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The source claimed that those fired by the US arm of the media company had committed “egregious” violations of the company’s -in-office policy.
Publicis Groupe employees around the world have been required to be in the office three days a week since the beginning of the year, including stipulations for mandatory presence on Mondays and no consecutive remote working days. Some exceptions were made for those with remote contracts or extenuating medical requirements.
While one individual posting in an online forum suggested those who had missed 25 days or more were given the axe, the source disputed the claim.
On another online forum, ‘The Layoff,’ another individual allegation that affected employees, ranging from analysts to directors were given “Zero warning just a call from HR.” The source did not verify or dispute this claim.
RTO resistance continues to plague American employers
While Publicis Media has resorted to drastic measures to enforce RTO, other employers have had mixed fortunes. Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn, for example, similarly suggested that clear and consistent communication has helped the company avoid resistance from employees over the company’s mandate.
Duolingo called remote workers back to the office in 2022, with von Ahn echoing Sadoun’s assertions that in-office work was important for creativity. “Most of what we do is creative stuff," von Ahn stated. “Toward the end of the pandemic, "we had run out of new ideas.”
The language-learning app told staff when the company was first going remote that they’d eventually be called back into the office. “This was not a surprise for anybody," he explained. “I don't think we lost a single employee from that.”
But Duolingo’s success story is rate, and other employers, like Publicis Media, have struggled to make RTO mandates stick.
After Amazon’s recent introduction of a five-day in-office policy, for example, a survey conducted by Blind revealed that 73% of Amazon’s corporate staff are contemplating a job switch due to the mandate.
Moreover, a recent report from Remote revealed that 67% of US employers have lost talent to competitors offering remote or hybrid work options in the past six months.
Earlier in the year, the e-commerce giant had attempted to clamp down on workers circumventing the company’s then-three-days-per-week RTO policy, with employees reportedly visiting the office and scanning their badge but only staying long enough for a hot beverage, in a trend known as ‘coffee badging.’
"It's all just so not transparent, it's maddening," one Amazon worker complained. Another added that the behavior would continue “if you treat employees like high school students.”
More broadly, criticism from employees has frequently focused on the inconsistency of communication from company leadership about future expectations for remote work.
At Salesforce, for example, select teams including sales units were recently called back to the office from the beginning of October; at a company event in 2022, CEO Mark Benioff stated, “Office mandates are never going to work.”
