Salesforce, the cloud computing company, is teaming up with other tech giants in Silicon Valley to announce a substantial change in the way it allows its employees to work. In a blog post published on Tuesday, the company says that the “9 am to 5 pm work day is over” and that it will allow employees to choose one of three categories that determine how often, if ever, they return to the office when it is safe to do so.
Salesforce will also give employees more freedom to choose what their daily schedules will be like. The company joins other technology companies like Facebook and Microsoft that have announced permanent work at home policies in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“As we enter a new year, we must continue to move forward with agility, creativity and a beginner’s mind – and that includes how we cultivate our culture. An immersive work space is no longer limited to a table in our Towers; the 9 to 5 working day is over; and the employee experience involves more than ping-pong tables and snacks, ”writes Brent Hyder, Salesforce personnel director.
“In our always-on and connected world, it no longer makes sense to expect employees to work an eight-hour shift and do their job successfully,” adds Hyder. “Whether you have a global team to manage multiple time zones, a project-based role that is busier or slower depending on the season, or you simply have to balance personal and professional obligations throughout the day, workers need flexibility to succeed. ”
Hyder cites picking up children from school or caring for sick relatives as reasons why an employee should not report to work a strict eight-hour shift every day. He also points out how removing stringent requirements in the office will allow Salesforce to expand its recruitment of new employees beyond expensive urban centers like San Francisco and New York.
In the blog post, Hyder defines the three different categories of work as flexible, completely remote and office based. Flex would mean coming to the office one to three days a week and usually just for “team collaboration, customer meetings and presentations”, and Salesforce expects the majority of its employees to fall into that category.
Totally remote is what it sounds like – never entering the office, except perhaps in very rare situations or for work-related events. Office-based employees will be “the smallest population in our workforce,” says Hyder, and are employees whose jobs require them to stay in the office four to five days a week.
“Our employees are the architects of this strategy and flexibility will be the key going forward,” writes Hyder. “It is our responsibility as employers to empower our people to do the work on the schedule that works best for them and their teams, and to provide flexible options to help make them even more productive.”