February 16, 2022: -Microsoft announced Monday it’s reopening its Washington state and California Bay Area offices on February 28 as Covid-19 cases continue to ease. Those offices will be open to employees, visitors and guests.
Microsoft postponed its October 4 return-to-office plans indefinitely in September, impacting over 103,000 U.S. employees. The city of Redmond, Washington, where the company is based, said that over 47,000 people work at Microsoft’s headquarters.
The company operates under a phased return-to-work plan. The recent move is its sixth and final phase, and it said that it anticipates reopening the rest of its U.S. offices as conditions allow.
“For almost two years, our hybrid workplace model has anchored each of our worksites to one of six defined stages, which allows us to quickly adjust our guidance depending on health data, local government guidance, the availability of vaccines and vaccination rates, and other considerations,” Microsoft CMO Chris Capossela said in a post.
Still, not all employees will return to the office full time. The company has touted more flexibility when working from home, a perk that could help retain employees.
On Monday, Microsoft said it “embraces schedule flexibility as standard for most roles.” The company said employees could ask their managers to approve requests to adjust their worksite, location, or hours. Workers will have 30 days from February 28 to change their routines.
“We know there’s not a singular solution to how people work best,” Capossela said in the post.
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