Microsoft has informed its employees that they can keep working from home through October as various US governors begin to lift COVID-19 related social distancing restrictions.
Stay-at-home orders in Microsoft’s home state of Washington are set to lift on May 31st at the earliest, however, the order lift will presumably be reexamined shortly before that.
Microsoft employees operate throughout different areas in the US and international markets and despite a steady stream of confirmed COVID-19 cases pouring out from state and local testing facilities across the United States, some state officials are easing social distancing restrictions to help some businesses gain a bit of normalcy going into the summer.
On Monday the company followed its Washington rival Amazon in notifying its employees that despite what their local restrictions may be regarding social distancing, they can opt to work-from-home through October.
When restrictions lift, working from home will remain optional through October unless employees are in an essential role or local authorities mandate otherwise.
As Business Insider reports, there are roughly 85,000 Microsoft employees working within the US and another 59,000 working abroad (not including contracted positions), so allowing them to continue to work from home seems to be a confident nod that telecommunication is working well enough for the company’s bottom line.
