CEO criticized for forcing staff to work in the office five days a week or face firing
There is now nothing that requires the 450 employees to return to the office full-time or find a new job.
In an email to employees, Nothing CEO Carl Pei said staff would be required to work from the London office five days a week for the next two months.
Additionally, those who cannot adapt to the change should consider leaving the company, which started remotely during the height of the pandemic, to “find an environment where (they) can thrive.”
Nothing that enforces the RTO policy
Pei explained that the move is intended to improve collaboration and innovation, which he said are crucial to success.
“We make physical products that require design, engineering, manufacturing, and quality to work hand in hand to deliver products to our users. This doesn’t work well remotely,” Pei wrote in an email to company employees, later shared publicly on LinkedIn.
The CEO also addressed the company’s challenges as a young startup, noting that Nothing “has to do more with much less resources than competitors.”
No other return-to-office policy is as strict as those of other tech giants, such as Amazon, Google and Meta, which have widely adopted three-day workweeks.
Pei has promised to answer questions about the changes live at the company’s next Town Hall meeting, which will be held at a physical location in the company’s London office.
He also indicated that some leniency would be granted regarding taking time out of the office “to address certain issues”, adding that other roles, particularly in PR, may require an employee to be more flexible with location: “This is an adult company… we trust you to make the right decision.”