Dropbox makes remote work permanent in ‘virtual first’ shift

Dropbox said it would become a “virtual first” company and make remote work the primary, day-to-day default for its employees.

“Though we make software that helps people work from anywhere, most of our employees came to an office every day,” the company said in a post on its website. “We believe the data shows the shift to remote work, though abrupt, has been successful overall.”

Read more: Employees work an extra 26 hours a month when remote

"It’s clear that distributed work is here to stay, and we believe that brings an opportunity to redesign the way we work for the better. Starting today, Dropbox is becoming a Virtual First company."

Dropbox acknowledged that all those back-to-back video conferences can be overwhelming and said isolation from peers can sometimes lead to miscommunication. To help address this, the company plans to facilitate in-person collaboration with existing real-estate or other flexible spaces it’s calling “Dropbox Studios.”

“We’ll have Studios in all locations we currently have offices — whether they’re dedicated spaces in places we currently have long-term leases and a high concentration of employees, the company said, adding that it would allow some employees the flexibility to relocate to locations where it currently does not have offices. “We expect Dropbox to become more geographically distributed over time.”

The company will extend its mandatory work from home policy through June, 2021 in an effort to protect employee health in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bloomberg News
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