Return to Offices? Who Says?

Has your manager talked to you about returning to your office? We want to know!

As we reported to IAPE members last week, when union and company representatives met on Feb. 23 to discuss return to office plans for Dow Jones employees, the company objected to a union proposal to negotiate directly with department heads over terms and conditions of in-office work. This, despite the fact that a Feb. 22 note to employees from Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour and Chief People Officer Dianne DeSevo stated, “Over the next few weeks, our People team will meet with leaders across the organization to assess what flexibility and what office use means for each individual business unit. Following those sessions, leaders will communicate plans and what it means for your teams and for you specifically.”

During last Wednesday’s meeting, Dow Jones reps assured IAPE that the usual cast from Legal and HR departments will be available to negotiate with the union. No decisions regarding return to workplaces have been made yet, they said.

That’s news to some IAPE members, who have already received return-to-office instructions from managers. One member contacted IAPE to pass along a requirement to return to offices at least one day per week. “We had individual one-on-ones with our direct reports as a heads up on the return,” the member reported. “We were asked to 'dip our toes in the water' by coming in starting next week so when the mandate takes place sometime in March it won't be a 'shock'.”

A member in a Sales department says their department head has already issued a requirement to return to Dow Jones offices at least two days per week, beginning in May. Staff in Customer Service received a Slack message from a department head announcing a “new hybrid working model” with an effective date of July 1.

Dow Jones says it has checked with HR and business unit heads and is “not aware of such communication(s).”

IAPE and Dow Jones will resume discussions over in-office work plans and flexibility next Tuesday morning. In the meantime, we would love to hear from you. If your manager has communicated with you in any way regarding plans to resume working in a Dow Jones office space, please pass that news along by emailing union@iape1096.org.