Nothing, a British startup seeking to challenge Apple’s smartphone dominance, is hauling its employees back to the office full-time in the quest for growth.
In a lengthy email disparaging remote work, which had been a tenet of Nothing CEO Carl Pei’s workplace policy since its creation four years ago, Pei explained why his 450 employees needed to come to the office five days a week.
“Remote work is not compatible with a high ambition level plus high speed,” Pei said in an email to staff, which he shared on LinkedIn.
Pei gave three reasons for the strict return-to-office mandate. First, he said, the logistics of developing a smartphone, where design, engineering, and manufacturing departments collaborate, weren’t conducive to remote working.
He added that creativity and innovation worked better in person, allowing the company to do more with fewer resources.
Third, Pei said Nothing’s ambitions to scale to become a “generation-defining company” wouldn’t be achievable with remote work.
According to Pei’s email, the new mandate will take effect in two months, and he intends to hold a town hall in London to answer employees’ questions.
In his email, the Nothing CEO also suggested that employees who could not commit to five days in the office look for other employment.
“We know it’s not the right type of setup for everybody, and that’s okay. We should look for a mutual fit. You should find an environment where you thrive, and we need to find people who want to go the full mile with us in the decades ahead.”
Nothing’s pivot
Pei’s move reflects a growing trend in the tech sector of bosses opting to force their employees back into the office in search of growth as the market tightens.
Nothing’s competitor, Apple, has a strict three-days-per-week in-office mandate. Last year, tech newsletter Platformer reported that Apple was disciplining employees who didn’t follow the rule, identified through badge tapping.
Some departments reportedly threatened their employees with termination if they didn’t make it in three days a week.
Meanwhile, tech giant Nvidia has skipped the return-to-office craze, indicating it is satisfied with a remote-work setup at a time when its market valuation has soared to more than $3 trillion.
Founded at the height of the pandemic in 2020, Nothing was effectively remote when the company started operations before switching to hybrid in its main London office. While other offices have gone back to full-time office work, London has stayed hybrid until now.
Pei’s company had early solid success, securing $96 million in funding last year and selling 2.7 million units for nearly a billion dollars in revenue since its launch.
Many workers who signed for other companies during the pandemic have had their contracts guarantee they won’t be required to be in the office. However that is not an issue at Nothing, CEO Pei confirmed to Fortune.
”There are no contractual issues with enforcing 5 days in the office. Employees signed contracts stating their primary workplace is at Nothing’s office,” he said.
It’s also unknown how many of Nothing’s 450 employees live close to the office. Many professional workers bought homes outside London during the pandemic.
Opponents of a return to full-time in-office work argue it disadvantages working mothers, who are more likely to sacrifice their careers to carry out childcare responsibilities. Remote work has helped increase flexibility for this cohort.
Pei said there would be flexibility with the policy, though only for employees to leave the office to engage in face-to-face meetings.
“Some may be worried about flexibility, but this is no different from pre-COVID. This is a company for grownups, so if you need to be out of office to deal with some issues, we trust you to make the right decision. In fact, some roles like sales and PR need to be out of the office meeting with customers and press regularly.”
In his comment to Fortune, Pei said: “Flexibility accommodations will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.”
