eCommerce platform developer, Shopify has announced that it will allow its 5,000 employees to permanently work from home even when it’s safe to return to the office. The announcement follows a similar move by Twitter and Square.
The company plans to close its offices for the remainder of 2020 and re-design its space for a “digital by default” mindset in adjusting to a remote work environment. Tobias Lütke, chief executive officer Shopify says its offices will be limited to 20% to 25% capacity after the move.
“We expect that majority of people will work from home and home offices in the future. The choice is really, are we passengers on this tidal wave of change? Or do we jump in the driver’s seat and try to figure out how to build a global world-class company by not getting together that often,” Lütke told Bloomberg in an interview.
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Lütke also announced the move in a thread on his Twitter page, saying “Office centricity is over”.
As of today, Shopify is a digital by default company. 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.
— Tobi Lutke 🌳🌲🛒🕹 (@tobi) May 21, 2020
Shopify has more than 16 offices worldwide. The booming eCommerce company is re-thinking floor plans, conference rooms redesigns, elevator banks, and work stations for its employees.
A spokesperson for the company says it may also dispense with traditional conference rooms to avoid crowding and allow people who are in offices to participate via virtual “tiles” or video screens.
“I think it’s important to adjust to new realities as [quickly] as we can,” Lütke adds.
Lutke said Shopify hasn’t figured out all the details of working from home, however, he proclaims: “We cannot go back to the way things were. This isn’t a choice; this is the future”.
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