In January, Costco expects its employees to work from the office at least three days a week, according to a memo viewed by Insider.
Starting January 2, individual contributors and supervisors must work from the office a minimum of three days, managers must work in the office a minimum of four days, and directors and above must work on site full-time, said Costco Chief Information Officer Terry Williams.
Costco has a similar policy for other corporate employees, but allows for flexibility for IT employees until now. In May, a local magazine reported an executive's comments that Costco's previous hybrid policy, with flexible options for IT staff, would likely remain permanent. In recent months, the wholesale club has reformed its digital initiatives, with CFO Richard Galanti pointing to several improvements to the company's mobile apps, which previously earned 'dismal' ratings on Apple and Google's app stores. Galanti said it is 'in the early innings of our digital mobile transformation efforts,' as it seeks to gain digital ground on its chief warehouse club competitor Sam's Club. Another tech challenge for the firm is its continued dependence on archaic warehouse management software for inventory management, which several employees have told Insider is a frequent source of frustration. At the same time, Costco employs about 310,000 employees worldwide, including 206,000 in the U.S. The company doesn't identify how many employees are corporate, or how many employees work in IT. The CEO of costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. contact reporter Dominick Reuter via the encrypted messaging app Signal or email.