Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has admitted that the company needs to work harder to rebuild trust with employees after recent job cuts and the decision to bring staff back to the office part-time. In an online meeting with employees on Thursday one worker asked leaders about the growing feeling that the company’s culture has become less empathetic. Nadella responded saying “I really value that question and the feelings behind it. I see it as feedback for me and the leadership team. We know we can do better and we will according to audio obtained by CNBC. At the employee meeting Nadella explained one of the reasons for the change. He said that when most managers work remotely while interns and younger employees are in the office it creates a gap. “Those situations can break the social contract” he said adding that in-person work is important for mentorship and learning. His comments come after Microsoft cut about 9000 jobs in July following earlier smaller layoffs. This week the company also told workers living near its headquarters in Redmond Washington that they will need to come to the office three days a week starting in February. More offices will follow the same rule later. Microsoft’s HR head Amy Coleman admitted that employees have mixed reactions to the new rule. Some feel like they are losing flexibility while others are already coming into the office. On average she said staff in the Seattle area already come in about 2.4 days a week. Like most tech companies Microsoft switched to remote work during the pandemic and leaned heavily on its own Teams platform for meetings and chat. While many other companies moved quickly to bring employees back Microsoft waited longer before setting office rules. By comparison Amazon asked its workers to return to offices five days a week earlier this year. Inside the company Nadella and his leadership team are facing some criticism from staff over the new mandate. But on Wall Street investors are pleased. Microsoft’s stock has risen nearly 20 per cent this year beating the overall market. Its market value now stands at USD 3.7 trillion making it the second most valuable company in the world after Nvidia.