Zoom has announced that they are implementing a “hybrid approach” in returning to the office, as the majority of employees want to see flexible working moving forward.
This announcement is based on the wishes of their own staff, only 1 per cent of whom expressed a desire to work full-time in the office.
Over half suggested that hybrid working was the way forward, and one in four (25 per cent) wanted to permanently work full time from home.
This comes as other tech firms have displayed equal amounts of caution in returning to in-person work, with Apple delaying staff recall to the office until January at the earliest because of rapidly increasing Covid cases.
The pandemic saw demand for the services provided by Zoom rise like never before in their 10-year history, with sales in the last three months of 2020 up 370 per cent compared with the same period in 2019.
Zoom did attempt to reintroduce in-office work in Sydney, Australia, but the office had to temporarily close again as COVID-19 threatened the area, and this has impacted their plans to continue opening other office locations.
The company appears to be taking a cautious approach, as they are not willing to reopen offices unless this can be done with no restrictions, with chief financial officer Kelly Steckelberg writing:
We don’t plan to open any given office until we can do so without personal protective equipment or social distancing.
When discussing the success of the remote working approach that the company has been forced to implement throughout the pandemic, Steckelberg added:
Employees doing their jobs successfully from home for so long is a feat employers need to reflect in their approach moving forward. We now know what’s possible, so it’s time to open up a dialogue to identify what your employees value and need from this next phase of work.
At Zoom, we’re preparing a hybrid approach— strategically mixing remote and in-office work — but we’re still experimenting with how that even looks. Admittedly, it’s not easy.
Megan McElroy is a second year English Literature student at the University of Warwick. As Editorial Intern for HRreview, her interests include employment law and public policy. In relation to her degree, her favourite areas of study include Small Press Publishing and political poetry.
