- TikTok is requiring employees to move back to their assigned offices, The Information reported Monday.
- The company is threatening employees who fail to move with potential disciplinary action.
- The move is part of TikTok’s broader crackdown on remote work.
Big tech’s crusade on remote work is gaining traction.
Earlier this month, short-form video app TikTok sent a tough warning to a group of US employees whose home address didn’t match their office address.
TikTok told the employees that they might be subject to disciplinary action — or even run the risk of losing their jobs — unless they can demonstrate proximity to their assigned office location, according to The Information, which first reported the news on Monday based on a message sent on TikTok’s internal software, Lark.
The internal message also told those employees who had already moved back to their designated office locations that they would need to update their home address promptly in order to avoid disciplinary action, The Information said.
The warning is just the latest in a series of steps TikTok has taken over the past few months to clamp down on remote work. The company announced last July that employees would need to come into the office at least twice a week beginning in August, according to the Wall Street Journal. TikTok subsequently rolled that date back to January 1, according to The Information.
Over the past year, companies ranging from Twitter to Apple have also been rolling back their pandemic-era allowances on remote work.
Since Elon Musk took the helm of Twitter in October, he’s repeatedly urged workers to return to the office.
In August 2022, senior leaders at Apple told workers they needed to return to the office at least three days a week.
In early March 2022, Google told employees in certain locations to come into the office three days a week starting April, according to an internal memo seen by Insider. By late March 2022, Uber had told its staffers they would need to be in the office “at least half the time” starting April, Insider reported based on an internal memo.
While many of these companies are now making big cuts to their workforce, TikTok has yet to announce mass layoffs. However, the Chinese video giant is up against mounting security concerns as more and more US entities have begun banning TikTok.
In December 2022, the Senate voted to ban TikTok on government devices and almost 30 states have now introduced partial or full bans. Universities are also taking steps to ban the platform.
TikTok did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for a comment.
