NEW YORK (NEWSnet/AP) — Zoom, a company whose name became synonymous with remote work, is joining the return-to-office trend.

The video-conferencing pioneer is asking employees who live within a 50-mile radius of its offices to work on-site two days per week, a company spokesperson confirmed in an email. The statement said the company has decided that “a structured hybrid approach – meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams – is most effective for Zoom.”

The policy, to begin in August and September, was first reported by the New York Times, which said Zoom CEO Eric Yuan fielded questions from employees unhappy with the new policy, during a Zoom meeting last week.

Zoom, based in San Jose, California, experienced explosive growth during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies scrambled to shift to remote work, and families and friends turned to the platform for virtual gatherings. But that growth stagnated as the pandemic threat ebbed.

Shares of Zoom Video Communications Inc. have tumbled hard since peaking early in the pandemic, from $559 apiece in October 2020 to below $70 on Tuesday. In February, a Zoom layoff involved about 1,300 employees, or about 15% of its workforce.

Google, Salesforce and Amazon are among major companies that also have updated their return-to-office policy, despite backlash from some employees.

Since January, the average weekly office occupancy rate in 10 major U.S. cities has hovered near 50%, dipping below that during summer months, according to Kastle Systems, which measures occupancy through entry swipes.

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