Harley-Davidson has been making waves, not so much thanks to its new models, but due to workforce shakeups. That trend is continuing, but in a negative direction. Now, after the new CEO, Artie Starrs, has been at the helm for six months, he's requesting that most of the Milwaukee company's white-collar workforce return to the office—a decision I'm sure will go down like GoPro's stock price.
Harley's previous CEO, Jochen Zeitz, introduced a fully remote policy in March 2020, early on during the COVID-19 pandemic. The great thing, if you were an employee, is that, while other companies brought employees back to work or introduced hybrid work arrangements, Harley didn't, until now. Employees were notified last week that those based within 50 miles of Milwaukee will be required to work in the office five days per week from March and four days per week from September.
It's unclear exactly how many full-time white-collar employees live within a 50-mile radius of Milwaukee, but the company's latest 10-K filing reported that the brand had 5,900 employees as of Dec. 31, 2024. It also stated that around 2,000 are unionized manufacturing employees. The 10-K said 82% of its workforce is based in the United States, and 58% is salaried workers.
What'll make this even more of a shock to Harley-Davidson employees is that, under the control of Zeitz, the company's historic headquarters was repurposed in 2022. He cut the ribbon on the 500,000-square-foot complex at N. 37th Street and W. Juneau Avenue in 2024, which then featured a $20 million park built atop some of the unused surface parking lots—unused due to the then-remote workforce.
Further solidifying the idea that the old headquarters was fully repurposed and work from home was here to stay is the fact that Harley sold an auxiliary part of the complex to Central Standard Craft Distillery. Are we about to see a lot of "For Sale" signs outside of homes within a 50-mile radius of Milwaukee, and property value just over the 50-mile marker increase? What would you do if you were in the position of one of the affected Harley workers?
