Twitter allows employees to work from home 'forever'

Twitter said it would not open offices until September, and when and if employees come back will be their decision. Image: Shutterstock

As many companies are seeing advantages of working from home even for the long term once lockdown restrictions are lifted, Twitter became one of the first major tech firms to say they will give employees the option to work from home ‘forever’.

Here’s the full text of a company statement published on its blog, written by Twitter’s Jennifer Christie, vice president, people.

Twitter was one of the first companies to go to a work from home model in the face of COVID-19, but we don’t anticipate being one of the first to return to offices.

We were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow folks to work from home given our emphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce capable of working from anywhere. The past few months have proven we can make that work. So if our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen. If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it’s safe to return.

Here’s how we’re thinking about the next few months:

Opening offices will be our decision, when and if our employees come back, will be theirs.

• With very few exceptions, offices won’t open before September. When we do decide to open offices, it also won’t be a snap back to the way it was before. It will be careful, intentional, office by office and gradual.
• There will also be no business travel before September, with very few exceptions, and no in-person company events for the rest of 2020. We will assess 2021 events later this year.
• We’re proud of the early action we took to protect the health of our employees and our communities. That will remain our top priority as we work through the unknowns of the coming months.