January 11, 2023: On Monday, Disney CEO Bob Iger told hybrid employees that they must come back to corporate offices four days a week from March 1.

In the email, Iger stresses the importance of in-person collaboration.

“As I’ve met with teams throughout the firm over the past few months, I’ve been talking of the tremendous value which becomes together with the people you work with,” Iger noted.

“As you’ve heard me say, creativity is the heart and soul of being and what we do at Disney. And in a creative firm like ours, no one can replace the ability to connect, observe, and make with peers that come from being physically jointly, nor the opportunity to increase professionally by learning from leaders and mentors.”

During the pandemic, many firms opted for work-from-home or hybrid work models that kept significant groups of people, and therefore the spread of Covid lesser. As vaccination prices increased and cases and hospitalization rates decreased, companies such as Disney looked to bring staff returning to offices and return to a normalized pre-pandemic work environment.

Iger’s stipulation is relatively strict compared with other large firms, which have opted for three mandated in-office days for hybrid workers. Apple demanded employees come back to work three days a week. Twitter owner Elon Musk, who famously slept at his company’s facilities as a showing of commitment, ordered almost all Twitter employees to return to the office for five days in November.

Disney’s current policy comes less than two months following Iger’s return to the company’s helm, promising a two-year stint to spark renewed growth and develop a successor to take his place.

Iger’s coming back in November came days following former CEO Bob Chapek’s statement that he planned to cut prices at the firm, which is burdened by swelling expenses at its streaming idea, Disney+. Iger’s return comes as legacy media firms contend with a rapidly shifting landscape. Ad dollars dry up, and consumers surging cut off their cable subscriptions in favour of streaming.

Iger ideas to reorganize Disney’s Media & Entertainment Distribution division, which oversees the firm’s content and distribution. He has maintained which hires freeze implemented by Chapek while he changes the company’s organizational construction to give budget powers back to those selecting creative projects.

Disney shares have decreased by 40% over the previous year. The company has a market valuation of nearly $174 billion.