Remote workers across Penske Media Corporation will soon be forced to make a major change to their lives, or lose their jobs entirely, as owner Jay Penske has ordered all employees to work at least 4 days per week at one of the company’s offices starting in October.
Penske informed staff in a memo, sent Friday and published Monday by Oliver Darcy, that they have until Oct. 4 to decide if they will comply, with the clear implication being that those who do not have effectively tendered their resignation. Indeed, according to Darcy, an FAQ attached to the memo explicitly states that those who refuse will be eligible for severance benefits, indicating the company already expects there will be refusals.
The mandate also appears to affect not just staff working for the larger PMC but at all of PMC’s publications and brands. These include Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Rolling Stone, Deadline, the Golden Globes and South by Southwest. Many Penske properties do not require staff to work on site at all and employ people who live nowhere near Los Angeles, New York, Austin or Miami, where PMC maintains offices.
Representatives for PMC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.
In the memo, Penske suggested the move was related to corporate culture and productivity and not to larger financial or business concerns, suggesting outright that remote workers are less devoted to the job and less productive. “At a time we need to be solving problems faster, we find ourselves foregoing quick ad hoc brainstorming meetings, taking longer to find workable meeting times, and seeing uneven engagement from remote participants,” the memo said in part.
(It’s worth noting that multiple studies since 2020 have found the precise opposite to be true, and that remote workers are more productive and happier, and generate more money for their employers.)
Penske also referred vaguely to so-called artificial intelligence, writing that A.I. is “driving unprecedented changes and challenges in our industry,” and, he added, “we are living through one of the most dynamic periods in media and publishing history.”
