Dating App Grindr Loses Nearly Half Of Its Staff Over Return-To-Office Mandate

Work From Home became a worldwide norm in the wake of the pandemic. Now that Covid-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, companies are asking their staff to return to the workplace. However, not everyone is comfortable with the idea.

Nearly half of LGBTQ dating app Grindr's employees have resigned after they were told to return to the office, CNN reported. In a strict mandate, the company last month told employees to start work in the office two days a week from October or face dismissal after August 31.

The policy gave workers two weeks to choose between relocating to their respective team's newly assigned ''hub'' city to work in person twice a week or leave the company with severance, according to the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

About 80 of Grindr's 178 employees declined to relocate and were forced to resign. Many of these employees were initially hired to work remotely but they were asked to move to designated "hub" cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

The CWA has claimed that the return-to-work policy was retaliatory and in response to a union drive at the company. The policy shift came after approximately 100 Grindr employees launched a union campaign in July to protect the staff amid the widespread layoffs wreaking havoc throughout the tech industry.

''Rather than recognize the union, the company issued a new return-to-office policy requiring staff to relocate or quit,” the CWA said in a statement.

The union has also filed an unfair labour practice charge against Grindr with the National Labor Relations Board.

However, a Grindr spokesperson responded, saying that CWA's allegations have ''no merit''.

''We are looking forward to returning to the office in a hybrid model in October and further improving productivity and collaboration for our entire team,'' the spokesperson told CNN.

A growing number of companies including Meta, Google, and Amazon have also issued Return-To-Office directives.