Twitter employees can work from home forever, CEO Jack Dorsey says
Twitter, one of the first companies to implement a work-from-home policy to prevent the the spread of the coronavirus, says it does not anticipate being the first to return to offices. In fact, Twitter employees can work from home forever if they want, the company confirmed in a statement to CBS News.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey broke the news to employees in an email first obtained by BuzzFeed News. In the email, Dorsey said the company wouldn't likely return to its offices before September, and even after lockdown measures end, employees could continue work from home if they want.
In the statement, a Twitter spokesperson said the company was uniquely equipped for employees 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," the statement continues. "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 employees do want to return to the office, they can do so when the time comes with some additional precautions. "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," the statement reads. Most business travel will remain off-limits, and there will be no in-person company events for the rest of 2020.
"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," the spokesperson says in the statement.
Twitter asked its entire workforce of 5,000 employees to start working from home at the beginning of March. The decision after the company halted nonessential business travel for its employees, and around the same time that it pulled out of the South by Southwest festival.
Work-from-home policies were also implemented early on by other tech companies like Google and Amazon, and then by a growing number of other large corporations. As March and April wore on, many states implemented stay-at-home orders that shuttered all non-essential businesses, effectively forcing anyone who could work from home to do so.
Dorsey has made other major moves in the fight against coronavirus. In April, the CEO announced he would donate $1 billion to COVID-19 relief. Dorsey said he take the money from his equity in Square, which accounts for about 28% of his wealth.
"Why pull just from Square and not Twitter? Simply: I own a lot more Square. And I'll need to pace the sales over some time. The impact this money will have should benefit both companies over the long-term because it's helping the people we want to serve," Dorsey wrote in a tweet.