‘DISGUSTING’

New CEO Faces Workers’ Fury After Reversing Remote Work Policy

Employees said they made huge decisions to sell houses or care for relatives based on what they’d previously been told.

The new CEO of a Los Angeles-based insurance company has triggered a major backlash from his staff after reversing what employees understood to be the company’s permanent remote work policy, according to The Wall Street Journal. Employees of Farmers Group reportedly raged on an internal staff social media platform about Raul Vargas’ decision last month after many people had made substantial lifestyle decisions—including to homeschool kids or look after elderly relatives—based on the assumption that coming into the office would remain voluntary. “This is seemingly a power move that is frankly disgusting,” one worker reportedly wrote. “I sold my house and moved closer to my grandkids,” another said. “So sad that I made a huge financial decision based on a lie.” Vargas reportedly emailed staff to say he believed in-office work was important for “collaboration, creativity and innovation.” A spokeswoman for the company said around 60 percent of the company’s 22,000-strong U.S. workforce would be affected, and that workers had been afforded three months to make necessary changes before the new policy goes into effect in September.