Jochen Zeitz, the chief executive officer of Harley-Davidson, Inc. made waves earlier this week when he told Bloomberg that the company was planning to repurpose its 500,000-square-foot corporate headquarters complex in Milwaukee, which hasnโt fully reopened since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in March of 2020.
The move is an embrace of remote work as Zeitz says he is supporting employees wishes to work from home. He told Bloomberg that physical office spaces are โless inclusiveโ and said virtual meetings and remote work โdemocratizes the way we work together and allows you to bring the best talent into the company, no matter where they sit.โ
Zeitz became Harleyโs CEO in 2020. He splits his time between Milwaukee and New Mexico, according to the Bloomberg report.
The report left many wondering what will happen to Harleyโs Milwaukee headquarters complex at 3700 W. Juneau Ave. on the cityโs west side. A recent filing with the city of Milwaukee indicates the company has plans to subdivide its property, which includes a large amount of surface parking spaces. The filing indicates the purpose of the move is to โredivide lots to facilitate land transfer.โ
According data from Harleyโs Inclusive Stakeholder Management Report, the company had 890 employees at its Milwaukee corporate headquarters in 2021, down from more than 1,062 in 2018.
The company did not respond this week to questions from BizTimes Milwaukee about the statements Zeitz made to Bloomberg about the companyโs headquarters plans.
On Friday, Zeitz issued a lengthy statement on LinkedIn addressing Harleyโs commitment to remote work and Milwaukee, where the company was founded in 1903:
โHybrid work is something that can work for many organizations โ but you have to put more trust in your employees,โ Zeitz said in the LinkedIn post.
โSince the pandemic, we have embraced hybrid work at Harley-Davidson Motor Company. And despite the unfortunate circumstances that led to us having to work remotely, the big realization โ which shouldnโt have been a surprise โ is that you can, and you must, put more trust in your employees.
โWorking in a hybrid setting has not only given us the opportunity to attract talent that we otherwise wouldnโt be able to, but it has also allowed many employees to work for the company, by aligning their working lives to the needs of their non-working lives.
โAs CEO, Iโm committed to ensuring that we provide our employees with the right infrastructure, support and guidance that they need to be the best employee that they can be. By putting more trust in our people, and their ability to decide what hybrid structure works for them within their teams and aligned to the businessโ requirements, we believe we will not only drive increased productivity but importantly, we will have a more engaged workforce.
โIn the end, itโs the results that count. The key to delivering those results is flexibility โ whether that be in our offices, shared working environments or at home; Harley-Davidson will continue to enable both a remote and onsite infrastructure that allows our people to do their jobs effectively.
โChampioning choice doesnโt mean abandoning your roots and your heritage. As we approach our 120th anniversary, at Harley-Davidson we are proud of our hometown Milwaukee, and we are excited about the ideas we have to invest in our Milwaukee campuses for the future.
โBy building on our most recent investment into our Harley-Davidson Museum Campus, we know we can adjust elements of our footprint to adapt to a new way of working and living โ not only for our employees, but importantly for our surrounding communities too.
โIโm proud that at Harley-Davidson, we are providing the modern, forward-thinking flexibility that we believe will define the working environment of the future. Our roots are firmly planted in Milwaukee and Wisconsin; however, we are a U.S. company with a global workforceโ, and we believe that promoting an agile way of working will be key to our future success. Itโs proven to be successful already.
โIf you feel you are the right fit for our iconic brand, please check out the open roles at Harley-Davidson. Weโre committed to hiring the best talent to deliver on our ambitions.โ

Credit: Daniel N. Johnson