Facebook this week announced it will allow its employees to work from home until next July, following in the footsteps of Google, which has also told workers to stay home until summer 2021.
The social networking giant will also give employees $1,000 to expense things like office supplies and furniture.
“Based on guidance from health and government experts, as well as decisions drawn from our internal discussions about these matters, we are allowing employees to continue voluntarily working from home until July 2021,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
The company added that it will reopen offices where it is able to, but said it does not expect to see a significant return to the office in the US or Latin America in 2020.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in May said he thinks half of Facebook’s employees could be working remotely within the next five to 10 years. The company is already allowing certain employees to work from home on a full-time basis.
Facebook workers who relocate permanently may have their pay adjusted accordingly, however, given that Silicon Valley’s sky-high rental prices are a factor in the company’s generous compensation packages.
“We’ll adjust salary to your location at that point,” Zuckerberg said, adding that the tweak would be necessary for taxes and accounting. “There’ll be severe ramifications for people who are not honest about this.”
Twitter also announced in May that employees would eventually be allowed to work from home indefinitely.
