Microsoft Calling Employees Back to the Office But Follows Strict COVID-19 SOPs

Since the coronavirus vaccine has started spreading around the globe, mitigating much threat, companies are now calling back their employees to start working from offices. Microsoft is one of them.

According to an official blog post, the company calling employees at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington and nearby campuses:

We’ve been closely monitoring local health data for months and have determined that the campus can safely accommodate more employees on-site while staying aligned to Washington state capacity limits,

However, the company is not forcing them to join the office. Employees would have the choice “to return to those facilities or to continue working remotely, and also have the flexibility to do a mixture of both.”

Microsoft understands that many would like to join back the office but still fear the virus. The company further said that it has “assessed all Microsoft work sites to understand what adjustments are needed to enable social distancing and meet local health standards and will provide all employees and external staff personal supplies such as disinfectant wipes and face coverings to use while on-site.”

The company further ensures that the company has set limited capacity in conference rooms, cafeterias and even transportation services:

We remain committed to delivering spaces that anticipate the different ways teams need to work together while providing the flexibility and agility we now require,

Microsoft also clarified that it’s not going to banish the working from the home trend:

Empowering remote productivity remains a requirement that will involve new collaboration tools, robust cloud infrastructure and a new way of thinking about network security. We also recognise that hybrid work presents new challenges like making sure everyone feels included and engaged regardless of role or location,