Chicago Tech Startup Joins RTO Bandwagon With A Twist: $10K Raises

Cameo once proclaimed itself surprised and delighted by the success of remote work.

Now, it is offering its employees $10K raises and other perks to work in its Chicago office four days a week.

The tech startup, which allows users to buy personalized video messages from a roster of celebrities, is also paying for workers' lunches, parking and gym memberships, Crain's Chicago Business reports. Twenty-six of the company's 50 employees are located in the city, according to the outlet. 

“I believe people are more valuable in person, and I wanted to put our money where our mouth is and pay people more who work out of the office,” Cameo CEO Steven Galanis told Crain's. 

Before the new incentive, most workers were coming in two to three days a week, Galanis told Crain's. 

The company isn't firing employees who live outside the city or requiring them to move to Chicago, Galanis said. But Cameo is offering workers outside Chicago up to $5K to offset moving costs in addition to the $10K raise.

“We want the office to be a perk, not a penalty,” Galanis told the outlet.

Cameo is a rare example of a company using a carrot instead of a stick to get workers back to the office. Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and AT&T are some of the largest employers to mandate full-time RTO without any perks. 

Last week, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon sounded off on remote work in leaked audio from an internal town hall. In the audio, Dimon claimed remote employees were reading emails, sending personal texts to one another and otherwise not paying attention during Zoom calls.

“And if you don’t think that slows down efficiency, creativity, creates rudeness — it does,” Dimon said. 

“You have a choice,” he added. “You don’t have to work at JPMorgan.”

The Trump administration has also imposed a strict, five-day-a-week RTO policy for government employees. President Donald Trump made the mandate one of his first executive orders upon assuming office.