Facebook Gives Employees Option Of Permanent Remote Work, As Other Tech Giants Insist On Workers Returning To The Office

As the world eases back into normal work, social media giant, Facebook has given employees the option of working permanently remote after the Covid pandemic is over. The company has told employees that they can work remotely for all five days of the week provided their roles permit it, and they get approval from their managers.

This development comes after other major tech companies like Apple and Google recently reversed the remote working conditions induced by the pandemic telling staff they would have to return to the office soon. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, has informed staff that he intends to spend half of the next year 2022 working away from the office.

In an earlier statement, Zuckerberg said that half of the 60,000 staff Facebook currently employed could be working from home in less than a decade.

While Facebook's offices are expected to open fully in October, the employees without permission to work from home - that is, those whose roles cannot be performed out of the office- will have to come in at least half the time.

Although the company has declined to reveal exactly how many employees will be working from home, an executive of the company has said that about 90% of requests have been approved.

Facebook, however, told the BBC that this new remote work policy only applies to employees and not subcontractors. Subcontractors are widely used to carry out content moderation as well as other tasks.

This policy may have been heavily influenced by the company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg who himself works out of the office sometimes, as he frequently visits his estate in Hawaii. He shared his experience in a memo to his staff where he said working out of the office has made him "happier and more productive at work." He also added that it has given him "more space for long-term thinking and time to spend with family."

Facebook isn't the only tech company to give employees the option of working from home as soon as the pandemic hits, Twitter announced to employees in a blog post that they have the option of choosing to work from home permanently provided that their role allows that.

Sundar Pichai of Google in a blog post wrote that the tech company would evolve to a hybrid work week where most members of staff would spend about 3 days in the office and the remaining days from wherever they wish to work. According to him, the future of work is flexibility.

Companies like Amazon on Thursday announced to employees that they were expected to work from the office at least three days a week. This has caused quite a stir considering that Amazon has dealt with accusations of overworking staff, unfavorable working conditions, and forcing employees to come to work even in the middle of the pandemic. Employees of Amazon in the UK, the US, and other countries are scheduled to resume in early September.

Similarly, CEO of Apple Tim Cook, in a memo sent to staff last week, said that workers should be ready to work from the office at least three days weekly starting by September. He underlined Fridays and Wednesdays as the days they can choose to work from home. 

In the memo, he wrote, "I know I’m not alone in missing the hum of activity, the energy, creativity, and collaboration of our in-person meetings, and the sense of community we’ve all built.”

Employees of the company however circulated a letter explaining that the company's policy already forced some employees to quit.

“We would like to take the opportunity to communicate a growing concern among our colleagues,” the letter says. “That Apple’s remote/location-flexible work policy, and the communication around it, have already forced some of our colleagues to quit. Without the inclusivity that flexibility brings, many of us feel we have to choose between either a combination of our families, our well-being, and being empowered to do our best work, or being a part of Apple.”