Tech giant Microsoft will be allowing employees to work from home permanently.

The Redmond, Washington-based software company has since allowed over 150,000 employees worldwide who wish to work from home since March amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But this option to work permanently from home was further elaborated in a ‘hybrid workplace’ that will allow employees who wish to continue working from home and allow more work flexibility once offices particularly in the United States reopen.

A recent report from The Verge said the software company will allow employees to work from home freely for less than 50 percent of the workweek, or for managers to approve permanent remote work.

Based on the internal guidance, employees who want to work from home permanently will have to give up their assigned workspace but remain to have options to use a touchdown space inside Microsoft offices.

The recent internal guidance follows after Microsoft’s tech rivals that include Twitter and Facebook which also announced that their employees can avail of work from home as a permanent option.

Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s Executive Vice-president, and Chief People Officer said in a blog post on Friday that at the moment employees returning to many of their offices around the world are still optional, except for essential onsite roles.

“Work schedule flexibility is now considered standard for most roles. While part-time continues to be subject to manager approval, our guidance is meant to facilitate an open conversation between a manager and employee regarding considerations, Hogan said.

The company executive said they recognize that are some employees are required to be onsite while there are some roles and businesses that are suited for working away from the worksite.

She said that for most roles the company views working from home part of the time (less than 50%) as now standard – assuming manager and team alignment.

“While we’ve shared that we will challenge long-held assumptions and seek to be on the forefront of what is possible leveraging technology, we have also communicated that we are not committing to having every employee work from anywhere, as we believe there is value in employees being together in the workplace,” she said.

Microsoft makes adjustments for easier WFH setup

The internal guidance is also issued for managers and employees to discuss and address considerations such as role requirements, personal tax, salary, and expenses.

Since March, the company has been allowing employees to work from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic by utilizing a Zero Trust strategy announced in May to secure laptops and connections of its employees who work remotely.

The Zero Trust strategy uses strong identity authentication everywhere by confirming that all users are validated using multifactor authentication. It also requires that all devices employees use for work are managed and healthy by using Microsoft Intune for device management. It also relies on pervasive telemetry to monitor the performance and health of all services, applications, and networks.

A study made by Stanford University announced in June showed some 42 percent of the US labor force is working from home full-time while another 33 percent are not working due to the lockdowns and impact caused by the pandemic.

The Stanford study said the pandemic has transformed the US economy as a working-from-home economy with almost twice as many employees is working from home as at work.

Considering the contribution to the US Gross Domestic Product based on earnings, the enlarged group of work-from-home employees now accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.


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JM Agreda
JM Agreda is a freelance journalist for more than 12 years writing for numerous international publications, research journals, and news websites. He mainly covers business, tech, transportation, and political news for Businessner.