Social media giant Twitter has announced that it will immediately restore business travel and reopen its offices from March 15, though employees can still work remotely if they wish.
In a statement posted on Twitter, CEO Parag Agrawal said the company is ready to fully open business travel and all of its offices globally. "Business travel is back effective immediately with office openings beginning March 15," he wrote.
However, Agrawal stressed that Twitter would support a hybrid working model, saying the company was committed to providing "really flexible working".
"The decisions about where you work, whether you feel safe traveling for business, and which events you attend should be yours," the statement read.
This aligns with former CEO Jack Dorsey's promise from October 2020 that employees can work from home permanently, as first reported by Buzzfeed News.
Agrawal warned that "distributed work will be much, much more difficult" and that employees will need to learn to adapt to the "challenges of the coming months" such as hybrid meetings where some employees are in the office and others are remote.
Technology returns to the office
Twitter is not the first big technology company to announce that it will reopen its offices. On February 28, Microsoft reopened its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, and other locations around the world.
Google also told employees Wednesday that it would begin requiring employees in various locations across the United States to return to the office in person for at least three days a week beginning April 4, according to an internal email seen. by Reuters.
In December 2021, Meta said it was delaying its plan to reopen US offices until the new year. This has been delayed until March 2022, but workers will only be able to return if they show proof of a booster shot.
“We understand that the current uncertainty makes this a difficult time to make decisions in the workplace, so we are giving them more time to choose what is best for them,” said Janelle Gale, vice president of human resources for Meta in CNBC. Meta employees who want to continue working remotely after March 28 will need to apply for a deferment, which will last between three and five months.
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