Iger Orders Disney Employees Back to the Office 4 Days a Week

Less than two months after returning to the helm of Disney, CEO Bob Iger told hybrid employees that as of March 1, they must return to the corporate offices four days a week, an email obtained by CNBC shows.

“As I’ve been meeting with teams throughout the company over the past few months, I’ve been reminded of the tremendous value in being together with the people you work with,” Iger wrote to employees.

“As you’ve heard me say many times, creativity is at the heart and soul of who we are and what we do as Disney,” Iger continued. “And in a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe and create with peers that comes from being physically together, nor the opportunity to grow professionally by learning from leaders and mentors.”

Iger returned as CEO of Disney in November to replace Bob Chapek, as Disney’s overhead had swelled and the company had been losing cable customers to streaming services.

The pandemic prompted companies across the world to turn to work-from-home or hybrid work models to prevent the spread of the virus.

With the rise of vaccinations and fall in severe cases that require hospitalization, Disney's move mirrors other companies like Snap (SNAP.N), Tesla (TSLA.O) and Uber (UBER.N) in asking employees to return to office.

However, compared to other large U.S. corporations, many of which are asking their workers to return from COVID work-from-home protocols on two or three mandated days of the week, Disney’s mandate is stricter.

The entertainment giant did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.