After the pandemic, many tech companies have
started setting new workplace norms by letting their employees work from home
indefinitely!

After Facebook, Google, and Twitter, Microsoft has
also allowed its employees to work remotely on a permanent basis. Announced on
Friday, the company will reveal a “hybrid workplace” guidance to provide
employees with flexibility in opting for their own working environment.

The latest plan will reportedly permit employees
to work remotely for less than 50 percent of their working weeks due to raging coronavirus crisis, or to either
seek approval from managers if they want permanent remote work.

“The
COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all of us to think, live, and work in new
ways,“ said Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s chief people officer in a memo sent to
the employees. “We will offer as much flexibility as possible to support
individual work styles, while balancing business needs, and ensuring we live
our culture.”

While many employees can easily avail the
advantage of permanent remote work, there are certain employees whose job
nature wouldn’t allow them to transition to working remotely.

Microsoft listed a few roles that still require
their in-person presence to operate their job duties, including those who
require access to labs, data centers, and in-person raising sessions even during Covid-19 restrictions. The
company also permitted their employees to relocate domestically after taking approval, and even internationally if their nature of work allowed them so.

The decision comes months after the company
notified employees that its offices in the US won’t reopen until January 2021.

Microsoft is the latest addition to the list of
large tech companies who have allowed their employees to work indefinitely as a
result of the pandemic.

Source: The verge