According to a new Bloomberg report published on Wednesday, Facebook will begin reopening its offices worldwide on July 6th with stringent security measures in place. The reopening plan is part of a multi-stage process that the social network has in place to begin restoring some of its in-person operations, which are crucial for its data center management and hardware development such as the Portal video chatting device and its Oculus line of headsets and accessories for virtual reality.
The company will start operating at a capacity of 25 percent, meaning that at the same time only one-fourth of its standard workforce will ever work in the same building. Those who do will need to wear face masks and undergo temperature controls to monitor for COVID-19-compliant virus symptoms, Bloomberg reports. While the July date is largely in place for Facebook’s US and European offices, the report states that some Asian offices may reopen sooner, depending on the containment of the novel coronavirus by the particular country or city.
This initiative will not affect Facebook’s pledge to require all its employees who can do remote work to do so by the end of 2020. Earlier this month, the company told its employees about the new policy, and it’s likely that a vast majority of Facebook’s non-essential staff will do so — That is to say, all employees who can carry out most, if not all, of their job duties remotely — will have to do so until the end of the year.
In addition to on-site responsibilities for hardware, operations, and network management staff, Facebook also employs scores of service workers who will have to resume work coming July. That includes shuttle bus operators, cafeteria and dining workers, security personnel, and other workplace members of the social network who manage and supervise their offices and the normal everyday operations of those buildings. Throughout the pandemic Facebook paid these workers, but some will now be required to return to work.
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Facebook is investigating how to enforce the social distancing guidelines on its shuttle buses, according to Bloomberg. It’s also unclear how the company will run its various dining facilities, many of which offer buffet-style meals and are a major advantage to Facebook and other big tech companies working on-site.
Facebook is only one of the major tech firms struggling with developing and implementing a roadmap for reopening the modern world of remote employment as lockdowns continue to ease in the US and across the globe. Similarly, Google has declared a work-from-home scheme for a number of its workforce through 2020 and a staggering reopening plan beginning this summer.
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The iPhone maker is also slowly reopening its retail network, starting first overseas and finally ending this month with the reopening of most of its US retail stores. However, both Square and Twitter have taken a more radical approach — both are run by CEO Jack Dorsey who said this month that his company’s employees will be allowed to work permanently from home if they so choose.
