Twitter employees to work from home ‘forever’

The tech workers - if they want to - will have the option of never coming back to the office even after the pandemic.

Jack Dorsey is the CEO and co-founder of Twitter and payments company Square. Aaron Francis/The Australian

Twitter says it will allow employees who can work remotely to do so indefinitely, as it reels from the coronavirus outbreak and plots a shift towards a more distributed workforce.

The pandemic, which has infected more than 4.2 million people globally so far, has led to strict lockdowns in most countries and changed the way businesses function, with work-from-home emerging as the new norm.

The social media company said it will not re-open most offices before September and employees can choose whether or not to come to the facilities.

"We were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow folks to work from home given our emphasis on decentralisation and supporting a distributed workforce capable of working from anywhere," a Twitter spokesman said.

"The past few months have proven we can make that work. 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.

"Opening offices will be our decision, when and if our employees come back will be theirs," the spokesman said.

"With very few exceptions, offices won't open before September. When we do decide to open offices, it also won't be a snap back to the way it was before."

Chief executive Jack Dorsey had earlier planned to move to Africa for three to six months in mid-2020, while leading San Francisco-based Twitter remotely. Dorsey later said he was reconsidering the idea due to the health crisis.

Twitter also said it will hold no in-person company events for the rest of the year, and will provide $US1,000 to employees for work from home supplies.

The company, which is under pressure to combat misinformation on its platform related to the pandemic, did not disclose the exact number of employees who will be presented with the option to work from home indefinitely.

Tech giants like Facebook and Google have allowed most of their employees to work remotely until the end of this year.

Last week, Google said it has asked employees to take a day off on May 22, to address work-from-home related burnout during the pandemic.

Additional reporting: Reuters.