Square announces permanent work-from-home policy

[Karlston]

Square announces permanent work-from-home policy

Employees can work remotely even after the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders end

Photo by Paul Jeffers/Fairfax Media via Getty Images via Getty Images

Square employees will be able to work from home even after the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders end, Jack Dorsey told workers. The indefinite extension of the company’s remote work policy echoes a similar announcement from Twitter last week. Dorsey is CEO of both companies.

 

“We want employees to be able to work where they feel most creative and productive,” a company spokesperson told The Verge. “Moving forward, Squares will be able to work from home permanently, even once offices begin to reopen. Over the past several weeks, we’ve learned a lot about what it takes for people to effectively perform roles outside of an office, and we will continue to learn as we go.”

 

The new policy will apply to teams that are able to do their jobs remotely. Those that need to come into the office, like security personnel and facilities, will continue to do so.

 

Employees at the mobile payments company have been working remotely since early March. Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all moved to remote work around the same time.

 

Now, as some cities start to ease shelter-in-place restrictions, those three companies have extended remote working options. Facebook told its employees they can work from home until 2021, though offices will reopen on July 6th for those who need to come in. Google also moved its return to work date from June 1st to December 31st. Microsoft extended the work-from-home deadline through October 2020.

 

So far, only Twitter and Square have made remote work options permanent.

 

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that IT teams would not be included in the policy.

 

 

Source: Square announces permanent work-from-home policy (The Verge)

[Karlston]

An article in our national paper The Australian reported that a company owner claiming that his employees working from home were 20% more efficient.

 

Less distractions than in a !@#$%^ cubicle farm or open-plan office, I guess.