Twitter has made it official to let its employees work from home forever if they chose to and they will be paid like a normal working day as they sit comfortably in the sofa in the comfort of their homes.
The new option is for those employees who do not need to be physically present in office for certain roles that cannot be done from homes. But for the rest of its 5,000-strong workforce, the option is now open.
Twitter was one of the first companies to go to a work from home model in the face of COVID-19 pandemic.
“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,” the micro-blogging platform said in a statement. “If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it’s safe to return,” it added.
The company said that opening offices will be their decision, when and if our employees come back, will be theirs.
“With very few exceptions, offices won’t open before September. When we do decide to open offices, it also won’t be a snap back to the way it was before. It will be careful, intentional, office by office and gradual,” informed Twitter.
The company said that there will be no business travel before September, with very few exceptions, and no in-person company events for the rest of 2020. “We will assess 2021 events later this year,” it said.
With this move, Twitter has upped the ante after Facebook, Alphabet (Google) and others have asked their employees to work from home till year-end. Google and Facebook have also decided to allow most of their workforces to stay home and work through the end of this year.
Facebook will open most of its office from July 6.
Google employees will be able to walk into their offices starting July, but majority of those whose roles allow them to work from home could do so until the end of the year. Google’s original plan was to keep work from home policy until June 1.
E-commerce major Amazon India has also allowed its employees to work from home till October.