General Mills bringing swath of employees back to Golden Valley HQ three days a week

General Mills is calling many workers back to its Golden Valley headquarters for three days a week starting next month, the food company confirmed Tuesday.

Starting Feb. 17, North America retail employees must be in the office Tuesday through Thursday, ending several years of reporting on-site just a few times a year.

Spokeswoman Mollie Wulff said in a statement the company’s “Work With Heart” policy launched during the pandemic “has not changed,” since it is still up to teams to decide where employees can work. This in-office move is the decision for the team Dana McNabb has led since last January.

“This change is specific to our North America retail employees, who we know benefit from greater coordination on the best times to come together to enable collaboration and fast decision-making without losing flexibility,” Wulff said.

Axios first reported the policy change.

General Mills originally touted “Work With Heart” as an open-ended approach to hybrid work: “It’s about how you get work done, not where you work from,” General Mills Chief Human Resources Officer Jacqueline Williams-Roll said in 2022.

Now that the company’s largest business unit by revenue has decided to work in person more regularly, other segments like pet, foodservice and international will have their own decision to make about where their employees work.

General Mills did not disclose how many employees the return-to-office shift will affect. As of 2022, the company had 3,500 total headquarters employees.

The Cheerios cereal and Progresso soup maker joins other Twin Cities Fortune 500 companies, including 3M, that have at least partly walked back more flexible office policies deployed during the pandemic.

Many firms that pushed for voluntary in-office days did not tally the participation they were looking for and have turned to mandates to bring employees back in the office at least a few days a week.

A recent Pew survey showed 75% of workers who could do their jobs remotely are now required in the office at least a few days a month. That’s up from 63% in February 2023.