Twitter employees can work from home forever, CEO says

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says it is unlikely that the social media platform's offices would open before September. Photo / Getty Images

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has told his employees that they can work from home for as long as they want.

He made the announcement on Tuesday (local time), saying that many Twitter employees can work from home forever, even after the Covid-19 pandemic ends.

"Opening offices will be our decision," a company spokeswoman said. "When and if our employees come back, will be theirs.

"We were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow folks to work from home given our emphasis on decentralisation and supporting a distributed workforce capable of working from anywhere," the spokeswoman said.

"The past few months have proven we can make that work.

"So if our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen. If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it's safe to return."

In an email obtained by BuzzFeed News, Dorsey said it was unlikely that the social media platform's offices would open before September.

He added that the remainder of the company's in-person events have been cancelled this year.

Twitter will assess its plans for 2021 events later this year.

Facebook: work-from-home til 2021
Google: work-from-home til 2021
Twitter: some work-from-home forever

Bet these to become precedent-setting decisions that shape how digital companies handle the year. We're all looking for playbooks, & 3 majors just made the first move.

— Jack Appleby (@jappleby) May 12, 2020

Twitter's new policy comes as other tech giants including Google and Facebook announced that their employees would most likely be working from home until 2021.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website