General Motors is mandating corporate staff return to the office at least 3 days a week next year, saying it will help 'retain company culture'

• General Motors is the latest company to issue a return to office mandate for employees. 
• Workers will be expected to come in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays every week.
• US firms including Google, Meta, and Tesla are increasingly pushing back on remote work policies.

General Motors has issued a mandate requiring employees to return to the office three days a week in 2024, joining a string of high-profile companies in the US that have walked back their remote and hybrid working policies. 

GM CEO Mary Barra has changed tunes on her "Work Appropriately" policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave employees the flexibility to work from home, the company confirmed to Business Insider Thursday.

Barra sent a memo to staff on Tuesday saying all employees who live within 50 miles of a GM office must return to the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays every week, a spokesperson confirmed.

"Effective January 8, 2024, we are providing more clarity on our three-day a week return to office policy. Hybrid employees need to be in the office Tuesday through Thursday in order to meet critical business needs and retain company culture," the memo said.

Barra is expected to decide whether executives who live out of state will have to come to the office too, Bloomberg reported.

The policy will impact 43,000 workers of its 90,853 employees in the US, per FOX.

"We believe the benefits of in-person collaboration and mentorship lead to a stronger, more innovative culture and higher performance," Barra wrote, in the email viewed by FOX. "The pace of change is faster than ever, and we simply must do our best work."   

The vehicle manufacturer scaled back sweeping plans to bring all workers back to the office in 2023 after receiving backlash from employees on internal forums. Instead different departments were allowed to put in place their own policies for workers. 

Several US companies including Google, Meta, Salesforce, Tesla and Uber have also put in place their own return to office mandates to the dismay of workers.

Employers' motivations for RTO mandates including boosting their bottom lines by encouraging in-person collaboration and teamwork — this in turns improves efficiency and productivity. 

But employees are not on the same page. A Bankrate survey in August found that 68% of US adults are strongly supportive of a hybrid working model rather than being fully in-person.