August 25, 2023

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan has said that he believes remote work stifles innovation and doesn’t allow people to build as much trust.

Yuan made the comments in a leaked audio recording of an all-hands meeting with employees. He said that he believes it is important for employees to be able to interact with each other in person in order to build trust and come up with new ideas.

“In our early days, we all knew each other,” Yuan said. “Over the past several years, we’ve hired so many new ‘Zoomies’ that it’s really hard to build trust.”

Yuan also said that he believes it is difficult to have productive conversations and debates on Zoom. He said that people tend to be too friendly when they are on video calls, which makes it difficult to challenge each other’s ideas.

Yuan’s mandate, which requires employees residing within 50 miles of Zoom offices to return to the physical workplace for at least two days per week, was met with controversy. It brought about arguments that remote work can be just as productive as in-person work, and that it can offer a number of benefits, such as flexibility and reduced commuting time.

Zoom is not the only company that has made a move to bring employees back to the office. A number of other tech companies, including Twitter, Meta, and Google, have also announced plans to require employees to return to the office at least part-time.

The sources for this piece include an article in TechSpot.