• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar

3

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar

3

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Successreturn to office

Boeing is letting top executives work in small offices near their homes and commute by private jet rather than relocate to its new headquarters

Orianna Rosa Royle
By
Orianna Rosa Royle
Orianna Rosa Royle
Associate Editor, Success
Down Arrow Button Icon
Orianna Rosa Royle
By
Orianna Rosa Royle
Orianna Rosa Royle
Associate Editor, Success
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 12, 2023, 11:21 AM ET
David Calhoun, president and chief executive officer of Boeing
Meanwhile, Boeing CEO David Calhoun's apparent absence from the company's HQ hasn't gone amiss with staff. Valerie Plesch—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

As the COVID pandemic gradually subsided, Boeing, like many workplaces worldwide, encouraged its employees to return to the office.

Recommended Video

But while the aerospace giant has tried to limit working outside of the office—30% of its job ads today allow for remote or hybrid working—several of Boeing’s top executives have not relocated closer to the company’s new Virginia headquarters and reportedly rarely show their faces in the office.

Take CEO David Calhoun, who took the helm shortly before the pandemic. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, over the last three years, a private jet has been chartered around 400 times near his two homes—a waterfront estate on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire and a house in a gated resort community in Buffalo, South Carolina. 

Calhoun is required to use Boeing-supplied private jets for all of his travel, both for business and personal reasons, due to security concerns. While flight logs do not specify whether these trips were for business or leisure, some flights did include visits to Boeing’s Arlington location.

Some top execs don’t even bother with that.

The aircraft manufacturer’s Chief Finance Officer, Brian West, also hasn’t relocated to be near the company’s Arlington base.

Instead, Boeing opened a small office five minutes away from his home in Connecticut.

Boeing told the WSJ that its Canaan premise, where West occasionally works from, was necessary to recruit the company’s new treasurer, David Whitehouse who lives around 30 minutes away. 

When a WSJ reporter visited the New Canaan, Conn. office that opened this spring, West, who is Boeing’s second-highest-ranking executive, was reportedly casually dressed in a polo shirt, shorts and slip-on shoes. 

Human resources chief Michael D’Ambrose, who joined Boeing in mid-2020, operates from a company facility near Orlando.

Leadership team rules

A spokesperson told Fortune that the firm’s top executives do enjoy more perquisites than lower-ranking personnel, like private jets, but that there is no company-wide mandate to come in and that any RTO requests have been made on a team-by-team basis. However, they wouldn’t expand on how many team members have been asked to go in.

“We have been transforming our leadership culture to encourage our management team to engage more frequently with employees, customers and other stakeholders,” a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement while adding that it’s why the leadership team is empowered to spend less time sitting at a desk.

“As with many companies, we have introduced more flexibility across multiple levels to enable people to work in ways that are most productive and supportive of our global business, and we’re pleased that this approach has allowed us to attract top talent across disciplines as we continue to execute our recovery plans.”

Still, the leadership team’s decision to work remotely after taking measures to entice its workforce back to the office—including happy hours and visiting alpacas—hasn’t washed down well with everyone. 

“What’s he doing? Is he like at Lake Sunapee or something in New Hampshire?” Jim Cramer called out the CEO’s apparent absence on CNBC in 2021. 

Since then, several Boeing employees have begun displaying ironic “Lake Sunapee” signs in their cubicles, as well as souvenir mugs like one that read, “Love Lake Life”, according to the WSJ.

Boeing’s bosses represent a wider trend

Boeing’s remote-working bosses are a familiar story for workers across the globe who are being encouraged to return to the office while their superiors conspicuously remain absent: McKinsey research revealed that high-earning mid-to-senior-level employees worldwide are digging in their heels when it comes to letting go of the pandemic-induced shift to working from home.

McKinsey surveyed 13,000 office workers in six countries and found that the largest share of employees who strongly prefer to work from home were those who earn more than $150,000.

In fact, 33% of employees who earn over $150,000 said they would quit their high-paying job altogether if their boss demanded them to come into the office five days a week. What’s more, this cohort of seasoned professionals would even take a 20% pay cut to be able to have a say in where and when they work. 

“Their seniority and high incomes suggest that they are probably decision makers who can protect remote work at the team or company level,” the researchers concluded. 

However, Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and author of a recent book about remote work, The Future of the Office, warned the WSJ that leaders who defy their own return to work policies risk looking out of step.   

“If you want people to come back and you’re not doing it, that really undermines the message,” Cappelli cautioned.

The Fortune 500 Innovation Forum will convene Fortune 500 executives, U.S. policy officials, top founders, and thought leaders to help define what’s next for the American economy, Nov. 16-17 in Detroit. Apply here.
About the Author
Orianna Rosa Royle
By Orianna Rosa RoyleAssociate Editor, Success
Instagram iconLinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Orianna Rosa Royle is the Success associate editor at Fortune, overseeing careers, leadership, and company culture coverage. She was previously the senior reporter at Management Today, Britain's longest-running publication for CEOs. 

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Success

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Success

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
SuccessBillionaires
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos could be the latest American billionaire to buy into European soccer clubs—he’s eyeing up a stake in Liverpool FC
By Emma BurleighJuly 23, 2026
12 hours ago
Sanae Takaichi
Successwork-life balance
Despite Tokyo’s push for a 4-day week for better work-life balance, Japan’s prime minister boasts sleeping just ‘zero to three’ hours a night
By Preston ForeJuly 23, 2026
12 hours ago
Paul Keary (L) and Mike Sutcliff (R).
CommentaryAI agents
Teneo & Thoughtworks CEOs: the AI race will be won with governance, not speed 
By Paul Keary and Mike SutcliffJuly 23, 2026
16 hours ago
How GE CEO Larry Culp pulled off the turnaround of the century
MagazineGeneral Electric
How GE CEO Larry Culp pulled off the turnaround of the century
By Shawn TullyJuly 23, 2026
20 hours ago
buffett
SuccessWealth
‘The man who dies rich dies disgraced’: The last time America had such wealth inequality, Andrew Carnegie knew he had to give it all away
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
1 day ago
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
SuccessBillionaires
Larry Page and Sergey Brin splash $225 million in Miami property as billionaires flee California’s tax—and Google is expanding its office there too
By Emma BurleighJuly 22, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
1 day ago
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
Economy
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 22, 2026
1 day ago
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
3 days ago
Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”
Personal Finance
Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”
By Joshua HongJuly 23, 2026
20 hours ago
'The man who dies rich dies disgraced': The last time America had such wealth inequality, Andrew Carnegie knew he had to give it all away
Success
'The man who dies rich dies disgraced': The last time America had such wealth inequality, Andrew Carnegie knew he had to give it all away
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of July 23, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 23, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 23, 2026
17 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.