Published 16:19 IST, October 14th 2020
Dropbox allows employees to work from home permanently as 'benefits outweigh negatives'
On the backdrop of coronavirus pandemic, Dropbox announced on October 13 that it would allow all of its employees to work from a remote location.
Advertisement
On the backdrop of coronavirus pandemic, Dropbox announced on October 13 that it would permanently allow all of its employees to work from a remote location. The US-based cloud-storage company took the decision after an internal survey which showed that employees are more focused at home and just as engaged as before. In the survey, most of the employees said that they were able to be productive at home and don’t want to return to a rigid five-day in-office workweek.
“Starting today, Dropbox is becoming a Virtual First company. Remote work (outside an office) will be the primary experience for all employees and the day-to-day default for individual work,” the company wrote in a blog.
However, the survey highlighted that back-to-back video conferences, constant notifications, and isolation from peers could be overwhelming. Employees reportedly said that company culture suffers because of no in-person interaction and risk of miscommunication remains higher. They also believe that starting new projects with multiple collaborators is harder while working from a remote location.
'Benefits outweigh negatives'
Citing the survey data, Dropbox said that employees think the benefits of remote work outweigh the negatives. The company further added that these insights are informing its product roadmap, and thinking about the workplace. Dropbox has set key goals for its policy which include giving employees freedom and flexibility, preserve the human connection and company culture, sustain the long-term health of the company, and retain a learning mindset.
“And, once it’s safe to do so, we’ll continue to facilitate a cadence of in-person collaboration and team gathering either through our existing real estate or other flexible spaces,” Dropbox stated.
The firm said that employees will also have the flexibility to relocate outside of locations where we currently have offices, with some exceptions based on team and role. It added that the company expects Dropbox to become more geographically distributed over time, hoping the new policy offers teams more choices in where they live, work, and hire from.
16:20 IST, October 14th 2020