Agrawal is enthusiastic about the return to offices, telling Twitter staff in an email that he ‘can’t wait’ to reopen.
Twitter will reopen its offices from 15 March, according to an email sent to employees from CEO Parag Agrawal outlining the company’s approach to “truly flexible work”.
“It’s been almost two years since we closed our offices and travel and I’m excited to announce that we’re ready to fully open up business travel and all our offices around the world!” he wrote, adding that the return to business travel would be “effective immediately”.
Employees will still be allowed to work remotely, with Agrawal telling staff that “the decisions about where you work, whether you feel safe travelling for business, and what events you attend should be yours”.
Jack Dorsey, who stepped down as Twitter CEO last November, said early in the pandemic that staff would be able to work remotely forever if they wanted to.
While Agrawal’s email reiterated that staff could work from wherever they felt “most productive and creative”, whether that be in the office, working remotely or in a hybrid arrangement, he had a note of caution about this new way of working in the long term.
He said that teams adjusted to working virtually in 2020 as almost all staff were working from home. But he pointed out that “distributed working will be much, much harder”, adding that “anyone who has joined a meeting remotely while others are in a conference room knows this pain”.
“There will be lots of challenges in the coming months, and we’ll need to be proactive, intentional, learn and adapt.”
Agrawal wrote that office visits, team meetings and events all bring the company’s culture to life in “such a powerful way” and he “can’t wait to see it all happen”, indicating he may be a proponent of in-person meet-ups and collaborations.
He added that details and logistics pertaining to the reopening would follow.
Twitter’s reopening announcement comes just days after Google said its offices in San Francisco’s Bay Area and other parts of the US would reopen to workers from 4 April.
Google will implement a hybrid work model that will see most staff present in the office at least three days a week. Workers can request extensions to work remotely if they wish.
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