Ericsson’s return-to-office policy is causing trouble

During the pandemic, working from home was the order of the day at Ericsson. But as employees started to return, it was decided two years ago to have a 50 percent attendance in the office — a policy that was never really followed up, according to Jessica Nygren, vice chairman of the Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers’ local branch at Ericsson.

Now the company wants to see more people in the office, and at the end of the summer it announced a new policy: 60 percent attendance.

The company’s press officer Ralf Bagner described it as “a minor adjustment in the guidelines to increase clarity.”

“Today, Ericsson has a hybrid guideline based on the fact that we believe in the human encounter. We also believe that there should be a purpose to where an individual or team chooses to work. This results in an office-first mindset among managers and employees,” he said via email.

Jessica Nygren describes the change very differently.