California: Amid the coronavirus scare, micro-blogging platform Twitter has asked its 5,000-strong workforce globally to work from home. As a part of its effort to keep employees safe, the company has also made ‘work from home’ mandatory for employees based in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea offices.
CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted the announcement Monday evening, linking to the blog post titled “Keeping our employees and partners safe during #coronavirus.”
Out of an abundance of caution and care, both @Twitter and @Square are taking significant measures to help lower the probability of spread of #coronavirus #covid19, including strongly encouraging all of our employees globally to work from home if able. More here:
— jack ??? (@jack) March 3, 2020
“We are strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if they’re able. Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus for us – and the world around us,” the company said in a statement late Tuesday.
“We are working to make sure internal meetings, all hands, and other important tasks are optimized for remote participation,” Twitter added.
The micro-blogging platform which has already put restrictions on non-essential travel said that US offices would still be open for employees who feel the need to come in person.
“We have continued to monitor the situation closely and are adjusting our internal policies to respond to this rapidly-evolving situation. On February 29, we informed our people and started notifying partners that we are suspending all non-critical business travel and events,” the micro-blogging platform said in a statement.
“Our goal is to reduce the risk that anyone at Twitter might contract or inadvertently spread the virus. It is important that we take these proactive steps to protect ourselves and others and minimize the spread of COVID-19,” it added.
The outbreak has spread across the world since emerging in central China late last year, killing more than 3,100 people, infecting over 90,000, and prompting a wave of travel restrictions.
(With Agency inputs)
