Shopify To Allow Staff To Work From Home Permanently

Canadian e-commerce firm Shopify has become the latest firm to make a strategic decision about how people will be working in the future in a post Coronavirus world.

The online firm has already said it will keep its offices closed until 2021, and after that will allow staff to work from home permanently after that.

Shopify is the latest tech firm to commit to remote working in a very real way. Last week Twitter and Square revealed that their respective staff can opt to work from home ‘forever’ if they want, or return or the office, post Coronavirus lockdown.

Home working

Shopify’s decision was revealed by CEO Tobi Lutke in a tweet on Thursday, who signalled the move that could be a source of worry for commercial landlords going forward.

“As of today, Shopify is a digital by default company,” tweeted Lutke. “We will keep our offices closed until 2021 so that we can rework them for this new reality. And after that, most will permanently work remotely. Office centricity is over.”

“Covid is challenging us all to work together in new ways,” he added in a follow up tweet. “We choose to jump in the driver’s seat, instead of being passengers to the changes ahead. We cannot go back to the way things were. This isn’t a choice; this is the future.”

“We haven’t figured this whole thing out,” Lutke added. “There is a lot of change ahead, but that is what we’re good at. “Thrive on change” is written on our (now digital) walls for a reason.”

Office closures

The Shopify decision comes after some other big name tech firms indicated to staff they can work from home for the rest of 2020, due to the global Coronavirus pandemic.

Indeed, as the Coronavirus began to impact the globe in March this year, many tech firms ordered all non-essential staff to work from home, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.

Earlier this month Google said their staff can work from home until the end of the year. Google previously said that Google staff could working from home until 1 June.

Facebook also confirmed that any employee who can do their work from home may continue to do so until year end.

Amazon is known to have told staff who can work ‘effectively’ from home can do so until at least 2 October, however that does not include warehouse staff.

Meanwhile Microsoft is also reportedly allowing staff members to work from home until October.