The tech sector ‘s two largest social media corporations have asked workers to settle for home-office schedules until the end of the year in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Both Google and Facebook announced this week that they would encourage most workers to operate from home by the end of 2020, while still setting deadlines for the phased re-opening of corporate offices. About 77% Americans are working remotely. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff that the company has revised its working from home policies to encourage most of them to operate from home for the remaining of 2020, while the offices will be reopened on 6 July after a long weekend of Independence Day. Google made a related decision at a virtual All-Hands conference to stretch the work from home Cap from 1 June to 31 December. CEO Sundar Pichai said that some core workers would be able to return to the workplace in June or July, with certain protective measures in place. Most of the staff will be required to stay at home, potentially by the end of 2020, he said, “although there will be times or occasions when you can get to the office.” Tech giants will help set the standard for others in corporate America when they set up new job structures. And according to the new jobless statistics, positions that could not be done from home were one of the hardest hit, while banking, skilled professionals and technology workers registered lower than average joblessness. Just as workplaces tend to re-open for some workers, experts expect that the pattern in remote employment will persist for some time to come.
