Microsoft makes remote work option permanent
- by Claude Bryan
- in Markets
- — Dec 29, 2020
Microsoft said staff will be allowed to relocate within the country where they work with approval, or may seek to relocate internationally if remote working is viable from overseas in their role.
As The Verge reported, Microsoft's employees who chose to work remotely on a permanent basis will be allowed to move across the country if they choose, and while it won't cover the costs of hauling across the U.S., the company did offer to cover the home office expenses for those remote workers.
"We will offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual work styles, while balancing business needs and ensuring we live our culture".
Employees who chose to work from home permanently will have to give up office space, but can still use touch down space as required.
The company didn't disclose how many workers it expected to adopt the new rules.
A survey from DataSolutions this week claimed that a third of Irish office workers would leave their current company if not offered the option to work from home, either part-time or full-time, on a permanent basis. However, due to the infectious nature of COVID-19, when the economy was forced to shut down, most companies opted to allow their employees to work from home. Employees can move across country for remote work, but compensation and benefits will vary depending on the the company's own geopay scale.
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The expert committee also recommends to achieve a high level of population coverage for the COVID-19 vaccine. So far, scientists say there is no evidence to suggest vaccines will be any less effective against it.
The company's head of human resources, Kathleen Hogan, sent guidelines to managers Sunday laying out new instructions to let employees do their jobs from home for half their work hours. Aside from these minimal stipulations, employees are otherwise free to relocate both nationally and internationally if their new work-from-home schedule and environment don't interfere with their workload.
Microsoft had earlier notified its employees that the USA offices will not be opening until January 2021.
As of April, more than 46 percent of those employed in the United Kingdom were doing some work from home, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Work location (the geographic location where you work, e.g. city and country): Similarly the guidance is there for managers and employees to discuss and address considerations such as role requirements, personal tax, salary, expenses, etc. Part time employees still need manager approval for flexibility changes and all the guidance is subject to "manager and team alignment".
Other office projects, too, are still in the works. In May, Twitter told its workers whose jobs didn't require them to be on site that they could continue working remotely forever.
However, all of the companies offering more remote working so far say that they plan to keep their physical office portfolio in Dublin.
