Belk mandates return to office after 5 years of remote work
The Charlotte retailer previously allowed remote work since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020
The following article appeared in the Feb. 10, 2025, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
Belk, after embracing remote work, is ordering employees back to the office
(Photo by Mike Kalasnik via Wikimedia Commons)
Nearly five years after the Covid pandemic hit, workers in Belk’s corporate office are being called back to the office three days a week, the company confirmed to The Ledger on Friday.
Belk’s office employees largely had been allowed to work remotely since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. While other companies were making moves to bring employees back to the office, Belk said in 2021 that employees “overwhelmingly” preferred working from home, and that remote work made them more productive and collaborative, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time. Belk said it would attempt to sublease its office building on Tyvola Road, where 1,200 people worked.
Now, though, the company is switching course.
Belk spokeswoman Jessica Rohlik told The Ledger in a statement on Friday: “We’re proud of how our home office associates transferred to remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic and are now excited to bring them back to the office three days a week. We’re looking forward to working together more frequently and enhancing collaboration and productivity amongst all of our talented teams.”
She didn’t elaborate on the reason for the switch. She also declined to say how many workers are now based in Belk’s corporate office and how many are working remotely.
An employee who asked not to be identified said workers were told in meetings last week that the substantial number of workers living outside the Charlotte area have until the end of February to decide whether to move to Charlotte or quit with no severance.
The employee said that for the last two years, Belk workers have had face-to-face interaction at monthly “impact weeks,” three-day periods in which remote employees come to Charlotte at the company’s expense. It is unclear if Belk succeeded in subleasing its building, as demand for office space has been tepid the last few years.
It has been a tumultuous last few years for Belk. It entered and quickly exited bankruptcy protection in 2021, switched CEOs in 2022 and restructured its finances in 2024.
The debate between remote and in-person work has played out across office workplaces since the start of Covid. The tide has moved toward more in-person work, though employers typically offer more flexibility than they did before the pandemic. Many of Charlotte’s largest employers require at least three days a week in the office. —Tony Mecia and Lindsey Banks
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