Microsoft to let employees work from home permanently even after COVID-19 pandemic

Tech giant Microsoft recently announced that it will be allowing its employees to continue working from home permanently. In a blog post dated Friday, October 9, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer of Microsoft stated that in the last few months as a vast majority of Microsoft employees work for home due to the ongoing pandemic, the company has learned a lot about “productivity, flexibility, resilience and compassion”.

Microsoft to 'work in new ways'

The blog post added that the company and its employees had to find ways to adapt to the changing world and as a result has found ways to work that were never thought to be possible before. These new ways of working include “managing necessary safety precautions, learning to connect with small or large teams while presenting to a screen, taking care of family and friends while being in the next room on calls, adjusting hours to address new demands and so much more”. Kathleen Hogan also said that she was deeply empathetic about how Microsoft employees have successfully made the transition to working from home while still dealing with the pressure of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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The blog post reveals that Microsoft employees now have the option of working from home for less than 50 per cent of their work or having their managers approve remote work. In the eventuality that a certain employee opts for permanent remote work, they will lose access to their Microsoft allocated office space but will still be able to use touchdown space available at Microsoft’s offices. Microsoft had also acknowledged the challenge of trying to implement a ‘one-size-fits-all scheme’ and pointed out that there are some roles that will be difficult, or even impossible, to permanently transition to remote.

The COVID-19 pandemic which saw its first outbreak in a wet market in Wuhan, China last year has now spread all across the world. The virus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation, has infected over 36 million people worldwide with the global death toll crossing 1,000,000. The US has reported more than 7.6 million positive COVID-19 cases and a death toll of over 210,000.

(Image: AP)

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