Microsoft to reopen headquarters to more employees on March 29

Microsoft said on Monday that it would begin bringing some employees back to its headquarters starting March 29.

Microsoft said it would allow employees who work at its Redmond, Washington sites and on neighboring campuses to choose between returning to work full-time, continuing to work remotely, or implementing a hybrid model.

“We have been closely monitoring local health data for months and have determined that the campus can safely accommodate more employees on-site while remaining aligned with Washington state capacity limits,” said the society.

Currently, the company has work sites in 21 countries that have been able to accommodate additional workers at its facilities, which it estimates represents around 20% of its global workforce. The company said it had more than 160,000 employees.

Microsoft told employees last October that it would offer more flexibility to work from home, even after it is possible to return to the office safely. The company said it plans to allow employees to work remotely less than 50 percent of the time. Employees can also seek approval from their managers to work remotely full time or to possibly move to a new location.

After several months of office closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, employers are starting to continuously shift to more hybrid work models or plan to forgo traditional office spaces altogether.

Spotify said in February it was adopting a “work from anywhere” model, which will allow employees to choose whether they want to be in the office full time, be at home full time, or a combination of the two. . Salesforce also announced that it will let employees choose whether they want to return to the office, saying “the 9am to 5pm workday is dead.” Twitter and Square allow employees to work from home “forever”,

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