CEOs run companies from afar while workers are required to return to the office

By Lily Meier | Bloomberg

For Starbucks Corp., its primary home is Seattle.

Yet its freshly minted chief executive officer isn’t living in the same city or even state as its headquarters — an emerging trend of top leaders living a plane ride away at a time when many employees are seeing less flexibility than before.

Indeed, this week Victoria’s Secret & Co., based in Columbus, Ohio, named a new CEO who will be in New York.

Brian Niccol, the new CEO of Starbucks, won’t be required to move to Seattle, where the company is based, even though he’ll be spending much of his time there. He is also getting a remote office in Newport Beach, California, where his former employer Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is located. Hillary Super, who was poached from Rihanna’s lingerie brand to be the next leader at Victoria’s Secret, will be moving from California to live in New York.

Both executives have agreed to commute frequently for their role. Starbucks will allow Niccol to use its corporate plane, and Victoria’s Secret will cover Super’s travel expenses.

They are joining the growing ranks of corporate leaders being given the option to run their businesses from hundreds or thousands of miles away, at least some of the time. It’s part of an ongoing evolution of workplace flexibility.

White-collar employees at Starbucks, for example, were required at the beginning of last year to return to the office at least three days a week, a move that sparked backlash from some workers.

Niccol, who moved Chipotle’s headquarters from Denver, isn’t following precedent at Starbucks. The coffee chain’s previous CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, relocated to Seattle from the UK. Niccol will spend the majority of his time at the Seattle headquarters, according to a Starbucks spokesperson.

Some of the location choices may be for business reasons. Kelly Ortberg, who became Boeing Co.’s CEO this month, will be based in Seattle, where he can oversee the critical 737 manufacturing hub that’s undergoing a major push to improve quality after a near-catastrophe in flight earlier this year. Boeing’s corporate headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.