Disney employees told to return to office 4 days a week

Employees at Disney have been ordered to return to the office four days a week, a move that upends the hybrid work option that had been offered.

The directive from CEO Bob Iger, who returned from retirement to lead the company in November, argued that the return to in-person work would boost the company’s creative processes, according to news organizations, including The New York Times, that reviewed the letter.

“In a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe and create with peers that comes from being physically together,” Iger said in the message to employees, according to the Times.

Many companies opted to allow workers to work from home during the pandemic. Since then, many, including large corporations, have continued to extend a hybrid working option to their workforce.

But the move at Disney was not seen as a complete shocker — Iger suggested in a meeting with employees in late November that a change to the hybrid work policy may be coming, according to the Times.

Iger’s move to shake up the hybrid work option comes just months after his surprising return to the company, less than a year after his announced retirement. He previously led the company for 15 years.

Iger has come back to the company to steer it through a turbulent time in which its shares have fallen about 40 percent in the past year.