In a Tuesday email to all staff, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that the company’s employees would be allowed to work from home indefinitely even after the COVID-19 lockdown is done if they choose to. So, it will be up to the employees whether to come back to the offices once they are open again or not.
“Opening offices will be our decision,” the company’s spokesperson said. “When and if our employees come back, will be theirs.”
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In that email, the company’s CEO also said that Twitter is not likely to re-open its offices until September, and the same applies to in-person events that were canceled through the end of 2020. Apart from that, Twitter boosted its allowance for work from home supplies to $1,000 for each employee.
Some workers whose jobs involve their presence in the offices, for instance, server maintenance, will still need to come, but those who can successfully perform their tasks at home will be given an opportunity to work remotely for as long as they want.
Twitter was among the first companies to encourage their staff to work from home at the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In early March, the company asked nearly 5,000 employees to stay at home and work from there to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Some other companies did the same, including Google.
In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said: "The past few months have proven we can make that work. So if our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen. If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it’s safe to return."
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"We're proud of the early action we took to protect the health of our employees and our communities. That will remain our top priority as we work through the unknowns of the coming months," Twitter also said in the statement.
Currently, Twitter is the first large tech company to allow employees to work from home permanently even after the coronavirus pandemic ends. Other tech companies, including Google and Facebook, announced that their employees who can justify that they can work remotely could stay home up until the end of this year, whereas Amazon staff can continue to work remotely until at least October.
