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Is working from home forever the new reality? It is for these companies

By Sam Del Rowe
June 16, 2020 12:00 PM

Since the onset of coronavirus, companies have been forced to adapt to a remote work model, changing how work is done across the world. Now, as restrictions begin to lift and workplaces begin introducing plans for returning to work, some companies are choosing to work from home forever instead.

Twitter and Slack, among others, have found that allowing employees to work from home is beneficial to productivity and morale. Research from Stanford University showed a 13% increase in performance from remote employees, while a study from Mental Health America in conjunction with FlexJobs found that 97% of people believe that flexible work would improve their quality of life.

Scroll through to see which employers are leading the way when it comes to expanding their work-from-home policies.

Twitter
In early May, CEO Jack Dorsey told employees via email that they could work from home permanently. The company initially moved to a remote model in March. Currently all of its offices are closed and the social media giant has banned business travel until September.
Square
Jack Dorsey is also the CEO of mobile payment company Square. A week after telling Twitter employees that they could work from home forever, he announced that Square employees could do the same.
Danske
In June, Danske, the largest bank in Denmark, rolled out an option for employees to continue working from home a few times a week. The company found that allowing employees to work from home boosted metrics such as employee engagement and productivity as well as customer satisfaction.
ING
Dutch bank ING announced in June that employees in Spain would be allowed to choose whether or not to return to the office. The coronavirus has delayed the company’s plans to relocate its headquarters from Amsterdam to Madrid.
Shopify
Canadian e-commerce company Shopify announced in May that employees would be allowed to work from home indefinitely. It plans to redesign its 16 offices worldwide to adhere to social distancing and support this new model.
Coinbase
Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase announced in May that it will become a “remote-first” company, allowing its employees to choose whether they work in an office or from home. The company said that the shift to a work-from-home model was easier than expected and that employees have liked the change of pace.
Facebook
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a livestream in May that he expects up to 50% of the company’s employees will be working remotely in the next 5 to 10 years. Employees can ask to work from home forever, with senior staff being the first ones allowed to make such requests.
Box
Cloud storage company Box announced in May that employees can work from home through January 31, 2021, even as offices reopen. The company will also continue to have virtual all-hands meetings.
Slack
Business communication and collaboration platform Slack announced in June that it will “become a much more distributed company.” To that end, employees can elect to work from home permanently. The company also made a commitment to hire more remote employees.
Amazon
Amazon announced in July that employees whose work could be done remotely would be allowed to do so until January 8, 2021. The company previously allowed such employees to work from home until early October.
Google
In late July, CEO Sundar Pichai told employees via email that they would be allowed to work from home until July 2021. The company had previously told employees that they could do so until the end of 2020.
By Sam Del Rowe

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Work from home Employee productivity
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