Dell’s reported employee net promoter score (eNPS) fell from 62 to 48 in its 2024 Tell Dell survey, according to leaked internal results reported by ITPro. The figures represented about 98,000 employees and arrived after workforce reductions, tighter remote-work rules and growing pressure to work from offices. That is strong evidence of weaker employee advocacy, but it does not prove that return-to-office (RTO) alone caused the decline or that Dell designed RTO as a hidden layoff program.
What the Tell Dell numbers actually say
eNPS measures employees’ willingness to recommend their employer. Respondents typically answer a 0-to-10 question; promoters (9–10) minus detractors (0–6) produces the score. Passives (7–8) do not affect it. A lower eNPS therefore signals less employee advocacy, not a complete measure of happiness, productivity, compensation or workplace quality.
Dell describes Tell Dell as an annual engagement survey within its continuous-listening program, covering leadership, culture, inclusion and workforce experience (Dell workplace information; Dell workplace page). Dell has not publicly released the full questionnaire, response rate, weighting, demographic cuts or underlying dataset for the results reported in 2024. The available reporting also does not establish whether every yearly score used exactly the same sampling and methodology.
| Survey cycle | Reported eNPS | What is established |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 62 or 63 | Secondary reports use different figures; no public Dell dataset resolves the discrepancy. |
| 2024 | 48 | ITPro, citing leaked internal material and Business Insider, reported a fall from 62 among approximately 98,000 employees. |
| 2025 | 32 | Claimed by SightsIn Plus; not independently confirmed by a public Dell survey release. |
ITPro also reported a 68% fall in global marketing’s eDPS. That label should not automatically be treated as eNPS: the public material does not define the two metrics as identical or provide the department’s denominator.
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A dated timeline of layoffs, restructuring and RTO
| Date | Development | Evidence and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| February 6, 2023 | Dell announced reorganizations expected to reduce headcount by approximately 5%. | Company filing: Dell SEC document. |
| 2024 | Additional reductions were reported, including more than 6,000 jobs in the prior year. | That cumulative figure came from secondary reporting and is not a complete official Dell total. |
| July 29, 2024 | Reported Tell Dell eNPS fell to 48 from 62. | ITPro’s report, based on leaked material. |
| August 29, 2024 | Dell disclosed a $328 million fiscal-2025 charge for workforce reductions. | Dell earnings-call materials; a charge is not the same as a disclosed employee count. |
| January 31, 2025 | Dell reported approximately 108,000 employees and confirmed reorganizations, limited external hiring and other headcount measures. | FY25 impact report. |
| March 2025 | Reports said many corporate employees were expected to work in offices five days a week. | ITPro described the timing; implementation reportedly varied by team and location. |
How Dell’s remote-work rules changed
Dell’s published flexible-work policy distinguishes between categories rather than imposing one identical arrangement on every worker. A “Remote Team” member works from home five days a week; a “Mobile Team” member works from home one to four days weekly. Both arrangements require eligibility and leader approval, and the policy says participation can be withdrawn with reasonable notice (Dell flexible-work policy).
Separate reporting described earlier rules requiring some employees to be onsite three days weekly and limiting promotion or role-change eligibility for certain fully remote workers. In early 2025, reports described a move toward five office days for many corporate roles. The Register reported a February 3, 2025 office requirement for Dell Services; ITPro reported a broader March timetable. HR Grapevine later described inconsistent enforcement across departments (HR Grapevine).
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These accounts can coexist because a written approval-based policy, an executive directive and local enforcement are different things. Coverage also used different populations: Dell said about 75% of team members globally had chosen hybrid work and nearly 70% of eligible U.S. employees near major offices had selected hybrid roles. Those percentages do not describe the same denominator, and they do not prove actual attendance every day.
Why employees said morale deteriorated
Anonymous employees quoted in Business Insider-based coverage described several overlapping pressures (syndicated report):
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- Loss of flexibility and the costs of commuting, childcare or relocation.
- Job insecurity after layoffs and reorganizations.
- Heavier workloads for remaining staff.
- Fewer promotion or transfer opportunities for fully remote workers.
- Anxiety about AI-focused restructuring and changing productivity expectations.
- A perceived gap between leadership’s messaging and day-to-day enforcement.
Four anonymous accounts can illustrate plausible explanations, but they are not a representative poll and cannot show how many employees shared each concern. A worker may also rate a direct manager positively while opposing corporate decisions, which helps explain how leadership-respect measures could remain comparatively strong while willingness to recommend Dell fell.
Dell’s response and the benchmark question
Dell acknowledged that eNPS declined but said employees continued to report that leaders treated them with respect, upheld the company’s Culture Code and supported work-life flexibility. The company also said employees remained confident in Dell’s vision, strategy and leadership. It argued that the score was still above industry averages, citing a Perceptyx blog, and disputed portrayals of its hybrid policy. Those statements were reported by ITPro.
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Dell has not publicly supplied, alongside these statements, the benchmark’s exact value, date, sample, question wording or calculation method. Without that information, “above average” is a company assertion rather than a fully comparable statistical rebuttal. It also does not answer why confidence in immediate leaders might coexist with declining enthusiasm for the employer as a whole.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does the survey prove RTO caused the decline?
No. The timing supports correlation, not causation. Sentiment weakened during a period that combined layoffs, reorganizations, remote-work progression limits, AI-related productivity initiatives and escalating office requirements. The public record does not contain a causal analysis separating those effects.
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The strongest defensible conclusion is that Dell experienced a material morale and employee-advocacy problem while several disruptive policies were changing at once. Anonymous comments identify perceived causes; they do not quantify their relative importance. The survey cannot establish whether layoffs, RTO, workload, AI restructuring or another factor was dominant.
Is RTO a “stealth layoff”?
Some employees and commentators used “soft” or “stealth” layoff language, arguing that workers unable or unwilling to commute might resign. RTO can create attrition without formal severance, and Ars Technica discussed that retention risk. But The Register and other coverage do not provide public evidence that Dell adopted the policy primarily to force resignations. The policy could have that effect even if Dell’s stated rationale was collaboration, mentoring or productivity.
What the public evidence still cannot answer
- Tell Dell’s full questionnaire, response rate, weighting and year-to-year comparability.
- Whether the reported 2025 score of 32 is authentic and calculated on the same basis.
- Regional, demographic and departmental results, including the proportion of remote workers in each group.
- Actual attrition, recruiting outcomes or productivity changes after RTO.
- Whether office attendance improved measurable business results.
- How many remote employees lost promotion or transfer eligibility.
- Whether exceptions differed by country, role, disability, caregiving needs, distance from an office or manager.
What this means for employees, applicants and investors
A falling eNPS is a warning indicator rather than a financial result. It can precede voluntary departures, weaker referrals and loss of institutional knowledge, but the available sources do not establish those outcomes at Dell. Employees evaluating a role should ask which team’s attendance rule applies, whether remote status affects advancement, how exceptions are documented and which office is considered the required location. Investors and HR leaders should distinguish disclosed headcount actions from unverified cumulative layoff estimates and seek comparable engagement, attrition and performance data before drawing causal conclusions.
The Bottom Line
Dell’s best-supported reported result is a fall in Tell Dell eNPS from 62 to 48 in 2024 among roughly 98,000 employees. It demonstrates sharply weaker willingness to recommend the company during layoffs and tightening RTO rules. It does not, on the public evidence, prove that RTO alone caused the decline or that Dell used it deliberately as a layoff mechanism.
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