One after another, companies in Silicon Valley are letting employees return to work in their offices. Pictured is the new Uber headquarters, which was officially activated on the 29th. (TV news screenshot)
Silicon Valley, where many large, modern office buildings have been built over the years and where workplace culture has been emulated by a wide range of industries, was one of the first areas to close offices and adopt telecommuting in the wake of the New Guinea virus outbreak. Now, major Silicon Valley companies are beginning to develop plans to bring employees back to the office, drawing a possible roadmap for a workplace model in the second year of the outbreak.
Uber’s new headquarters in San Francisco’s Mizuno district was officially activated recently, initially using a voluntary approach to get up to 20 percent of its employees back in the office. uber spokeswoman Van Der Laan (Lois Van Der Laan) said they have about 3,500 employees in the Bay Area, and about 100 employees went into the office to work during the first two days of the headquarters activation.
Van Der Laan said employees who choose to return to the office must first sign a consent form detailing precautions for the new pneumonia crown, must take their temperature daily and must reserve office seats in advance so the company can control the number of people. However, most employees will be able to continue to work remotely until September 13.
Facebook also announced that it will have employees back in the office within a few weeks. Spokeswoman Chloe Meyere said the office is scheduled to accommodate up to 10 percent of employees in May. Meyere noted that in addition to requiring employees returning to the office to keep their distance and wear masks, they are mandating that those employees be tested for the virus once a week. For those employees who have the need to work in the office, they can wait until the number limit in the nearest office to them is raised to 50% for a month before returning to the office. Facebook said they will wait until at least September 7 of this year before moving the maximum office headcount limit to 50 percent.
Google confirmed on March 31 that they will return U.S. employees to the office on a voluntary basis starting in April. Google previously said they would test a flexible work program where employees would only have to go into the office for up to three days a week. However, employees can still continue to work remotely until September.
Twitter said they have not yet decided when to let employees return to the office, but initially only up to 20 percent of employees will be allowed back. Twitter told employees during the outbreak that they could work remotely “indefinitely” if they wanted to. However, Twitter predicts that once the office reopens, most employees will likely choose to work in a mixed mode, going into the office part of the time and working from home part of the time.
Apple has not said when the office will reopen, but last year news broke that they plan to start sending employees back to work at their headquarters as early as May.
Technology companies outside of Silicon Valley have also been announcing decisions to reopen their offices. Microsoft has started returning employees to its Redmond, Washington, headquarters on the 29th, using a hybrid model.
As the pace of global vaccinations continues to accelerate, large technology companies have differing views on what the future of the workplace should look like, highlighting the uncertainty surrounding the return of employees to the office.
David Bergeron, president of T3 Advisors, which specializes in technology real estate, said that every company and every person is in a different place, and the benefit of working remotely is that companies can attract a wider variety of talent. However, Bergeron also said, “The risk is that if teleworking doesn’t work, it will take a long time for companies to win back the trust of their employees.”
Recent Comments