The social media giant Facebook is planning to start reopening Bay Area offices in May. This will be done on a rolling basis depending on the local COVID data, as announced by the company recently.
Chloe Meyere, a spokeswoman from Facebook said that the safety and health of its employees and the office’s neighbors in the community is the company’s top priority. This is the reason why the social media giant is taking a measured approach in terms of reopening its offices. She added that as Facebook employees are returning to the office, there will be several safety protocols in place. That includes physical distancing and wearing of masks as a requirement at all times inside an office. There will also be weekly testing requirements for employees working on-site if possible.
Three Bay Area counties moved into California’s orange coronavirus tier, a less restrictive policy this week. These counties are Marin, Santa Clara, as well as San Francisco. Notably, the orange coronavirus tier allows offices to reopen with modifications.
The Reaction: Facebook Followers “Clapped Back” Upon The Announcement
On the other hand, San Mateo County moved into the orange tier earlier.
Moreover, Uber said that it would start to reopen its new HQ building in San Francisco Mission Bay neighborhood on Monday. Meyere said that Facebook will begin to reopen its Bay Area office on May 10 at its Menlo Park headquarters. The company’s Fremont office will open on May 17 and the Sunnyvale office on May 24. Lately, its two offices located in downtown San Francisco towers on June 7.
In addition, offices will be opened initially with a 10 percent maximum seated capacity. It will also be on an opt-in basis for employees who are now working remotely. This lenient policy allowed Facebook followers to support something positive in the scary concept of returning to work. The working theory is that these Facebook Followers sought to buy each other Facebook Post Likes to help support the policy idea.
Meyere noted that this is a desk in a physically distanced room that has safety protocols.
The social media giant has also cited the increasing availability of COVID-19 vaccines as it announced its plans to return to offices. Still, it cautioned that the reopenings depend on health data that show continued improvement.
Additionally, Facebook gave its employees from around the world to continue working from home until July 2. It is also now moving to a site-by-site approach. The social media giant also noted that the earliest that it could open large offices like the Menlo Park headquarters at 50 percent capacity would be during the first of September.
Facebook is also expecting that when conditions allow an office to reach 50 percent capacity, the employees who were assigned to that office and are still working remotely will be asked to return a month later.
Decisions to Bring Employees Back to the Office Depend on Various Data
Facebook is planning to begin reopening its offices in Seattle next month, According to Meyere, it will also have a 10 percent capacity.
The decisions to bring employees back to their offices will be based on a number of data. That includes vaccination rates, local COVID rates, government guidance, and access to testing and treatment. In addition, the data includes health data from sources like the US Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization, and Stanford Health.
Employees do not have to be vaccinated for them to be able to return to the office. Still, the company is encouraging them to get the vaccine.
However, perks for employees, including shuttle buses and free food, will be on hold indefinitely. But Meyer said that transit stipends will be available for employees who are going back to offices.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, and CEO of Facebook said in a statement last year that he is expecting half of the company’s workforce to work remotely within five to 10 years. But Meyere said that the firm is still committed to its offices.
Uber Will Re-Open Its Offices on a Voluntary Basis
Uber has extended its work from home policy until September 13. However, the company said that it will open its new headquarters and employees could go back to working there on a voluntary basis. Moreover, the headquarters will only have a 20 percent capacity.
Notably, Uber is among the world’s largest platforms for local transportation. In an email, the ride-hailing giant said that it knows that its company has a significant role to play in bringing life back to cities. It added that its COVID-19 safety protocols meet and even exceed local, national, and global guidelines. The management will also require all employees who will go back on site to wear masks. In addition, desks will be at least six feet apart to make sure that everyone is abiding by the protocols that the government has set for COVID-19 safety.
Google and Microsoft are Looking to Allow their Employees to Return to Offices
Apart from Facebook and Uber, Google and Microsoft are also looking into hybrid work models going forward.
Microsoft began to reopen its Redmond and Washington headquarters last March 29. In addition, it is expecting working from home part-time to be a standard policy for all of its employees.
On the other hand, the plans that Google has been less certain. It did not immediately respond when the online news site The Verge, but last year, it mentioned that its employees would be able to work remotely until September 2021. Google also noted then that it would explore requiring employees to work three days every week in person.
Furthermore, there is no denying that working indoors in an office poses a number of risks. Being vaccinated is not a guarantee that the virus can no longer be transmitted from one person to another. However, as companies are transitioning to the new normal post-pandemic world, there is no doubt that remote work will not be over entirely anytime soon.
Facebook Post Likes are earned when supporting preferred policy ideas
Everyone hates to go back to work, but little concepts within these return to work policies are often supported when they are made available. The idea is to help these ideas take hold and spread around inside the economy. The freedom of allowing opt-in employees to optionally use the office is the best way to start getting people back to work and back in the 9-5 office lifestyle. These concepts are universally appealing, and never draw stark criticism like other company policies often evoke during these troubling times.
Perhaps the best way to support good ideas is to embrace them and spread them. This is why people who liked these ideas helped spread them when they bought Facebook Post Likes on any posts they found by prominent people to help send the message. What other good ideas could we help manifest simply by buying Facebook Post Likes on them?
