Coronavirus: Twitter employees can now work-from-home forever, CEO says

'We've been very thoughtful in how we've approached this from the time we were one of the first companies to move to a work-from-home model'

Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, has informed employees they will no longer be required to come into the office as the company announced plans to adopt a permanent work-from-home structure amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The 43-year-old CEO sent an email to staff saying all in-person events would be cancelled, along with nearly all planned business trips, for the rest of the year.

Employees would receive a $1,000 allowance to equip themselves with the tools necessary to work-from-home, Mr Dorsey said, adding that the office was unlikely to open before September.

The new work-from-home policy stemmed from the company’s plans to work in a “distributed” way, BuzzFeed News reported, which Mr Dorsey announced before the coronavirus outbreak was declared a national emergency in mid-March.

Those plans had been accelerated by the pandemic, which has forced Twitter — like countless other companies — to reshape their business models and allow staff to work-from-home in order to continue operations.

Twitter touted the move in a statement to the news outlet, saying it was “one of the first” companies to allow its employees to work-from-home before the pandemic.

“We've been very thoughtful in how we've approached this from the time we were one of the first companies to move to a work-from-home model”, a spokesperson said.

The statement continued: “We'll continue to be, and we'll continue to put the safety of our people and communities first.”

Jennifer Christie, the head of human resources at Twitter, also told BuzzFeed News the company would “never probably be the same” as it began allowing employees to work-from-home during the initial months of the outbreak.

“People who were reticent to work remotely will find that they really thrive that way,” she said at the time. “Managers who didn’t think they could manage teams that were remote will have a different perspective.”

She added: “I do think we won’t go back.”