Coronavirus outbreak: Twitter makes work from home mandatory for all employees

Twitter Inc, which on March 2 encouraged its employees to work from home, has now made it mandatory for all its 5,000 employees to work from home. Jennifer Christie, Vice-President, People, in a blog said, "Informed all employees globally they must work from home." This has been in response to the coronavirus outbreak, which now has affected 120,000 people across the globe and has claimed more than 4.300 lives.

"Our top priority remains the health and safety of our Tweeps, and we also have a responsibility to support our communities, those who are vulnerable, and the healthcare providers who are on the front lines of this pandemic," said Christie in her blog. 

She also said though the company is exercising work from home, Twitter would continue to support its employees and the other people associated with the company.

Christie said the pays of hired contractors and hourly workers won't be cut if they were not able to perform their duties from home. "Twitter will continue to pay their labor costs to cover standard working hours while Twitter's work-from-home guidance and/or travel restrictions related to their assigned office are in effect," said Christie.

Twitter would also be helping working parents by covering additional costs incurred to them when their normal daycare closes. Christie said all employees will get reimbursed for the money spent on setting up a work desk at home. They are working with vendors to ensure that their contractors' work from home needs are met.

"We listened to employee feedback and expanded our policy to include home office equipment, such as desks, desk chairs, and ergonomic chair cushions. We're also allowing Tweeps to expense online fees while working from home," wrote Christie.

Twitter will also be organising virtual talks, called #FlockTalk, which will have twitter employees from around the world coming together to discuss COVDID-19 related issues and have health-related conversations. Twitter has also issued guidelines for its employees, which will make the practice of work from home easier.

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