It’s time. After about a year since Microsoft announced a mandatory work-from-home policy for its various offices due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, the company is ready to take the next step.
That being, an experiment with a hybrid workspace model that will provide more flexibility to more than 160,000 people who work at the company. The company has already put together its strategy for this, what it calls 6 stages of the COVID-19 hybrid workspace.
As part of this deal, the software titan has announced its plans to partially reopen its Redmond headquarters and nearly campuses next week on March 29.
Kurt DelBene, Executive Vice President, explains:
“Taking the example of our Redmond campus, we’ve been closely monitoring local health data for months and have determined that the campus can safely accommodate more employees on-site while staying aligned to Washington state capacity limits. As we watch for progress against the virus in the region and continue to evaluate our guidance, employees who work at Redmond work sites or nearby campuses have the choice to return to those facilities or to continue working remotely, and also have the flexibility to do a mixture of both.”
The coronavirus pandemic has profoundly changed how most companies operate, and remote work is likely here to stay.
In fact, the software titan also has plans for a full opening of its Redmond headquarters. The company will continue to monitor the situation, but the goal is set for July 6. That, of course, depends on closely monitoring local health data and government requirements to accommodate more workers.
Microsoft will not be holding any in-person events until July, and that also applies to the upcoming BUILD 2021 developer conference expected in late May.
Change is coming.
