The Washington Post has ordered employees to return to the office five days a week, according to a memo from Publisher Will Lewis. Managers will have to return beginning February 3, 2025, and all other employees will be expected in the office beginning June 2.
“I want that great office energy for us every day,” Lewis writes. “I am reliably informed that is how it used to be here before Covid, and it’s important we get this back.”
The Post sent employees home on March 10, 2020, as the magnitude of the Covid pandemic became clear. Employees have been required to be in office at least three days per week since spring of 2022.
There is a carve-out: If you’re out reporting, that counts as being in-office, as does making a sales call for the ad folks. “The change is that there is a presumption that between those key work or personal appointments, you will be office based,” Lewis writes, “the same arrangements as you have had with the three day a week rule, but now for five days.”
In response, the Washington Post Guild, the union that represents many employees at the publication, sent an email to members with the subject line “RTO (Return to Organizing).” In the note, the union’s leaders say “Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work than to improve our productivity or collaboration.” The long time frame before Guild members are required to report five days a week, they say, “means we have time to organize a response.”
Here’s Lewis’s memo:
Hello,
Thank you all very much for your hard work and dedication in this significant week for America and the world.
We produced wonderful journalism for our customers and the office was a vibrant place to be. I want that great office energy for us every day. I am reliably informed that is how it used to be here before Covid, and it’s important we get this back.
You know how much we all must do to improve our company, and I do not believe we can do that successfully via zoom. We are really good when we are working together in person.
It is in this spirit that we will be returning to the office five days a week in the coming months.
By February 3, 2025, we want all managers to return to the office (that’s all people managers at all levels companywide). All other colleagues will be required to return to the office five days a week by June 2, 2025. These return-to-office plans also apply to those remote colleagues within commuting distance of either our DC or New York offices.
All other remote working arrangements, either continuing or new, will require departmental approval, and will be based on business needs, the nature of the role and related factors.
We know for some people this shift from three to five days in the office will be welcomed and a straightforward transition. For others, we know it will be an adjustment – you may need to adapt routines and rediscover old ways of managing work-life balance. This is why we are giving more than six months for many of our colleagues to work it through.
When we say return to the office, there is a lot that won’t change. If you are a reporter out on a story, a salesperson out selling, or a colleague going to a medical appointment – carry on as normal. The change is that there is a presumption that between those key work or personal appointments, you will be office based – the same arrangements as you have had with the three day a week rule, but now for five days.
You will likely have questions and will hear more from your own department heads soon. In the meantime, please direct any specific questions to wayne.connell@washpost.com or our HR team.
William
And here’s the Guild’s note:
Hi all-
Like many of you, we are distressed to learn that after four years of successful flexible work arrangements, The Post plans to institute an inflexible and outdated work-from-the-office policy that does not reflect the reality of our jobs or lives. Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work than to improve our productivity or collaboration.
Here’s the good news: The contract you all voted to approve in December includes a side letter for ample notice and management is readily conceding Guild-covered employees do not have to make any changes until June 2nd at the earliest. That means we have time to organize a response.
Disclosure: Washingtonian’s editorial staff, like the Post Guild, is represented by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
