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Facebook employees to be given £750 for home offices as remote working continues till July 2021

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Facebook has announced that it will be giving its employees £750 towards home office needs as it extends remote working to next summer at the earliest.

Since March, almost all of the tech giant’s 48,000 members of staff, which are typically based in 70 offices around the world, have been working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Previously, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg stated that the company would allow workers to remain at home until the end of 2020.

However, Facebook has now extended its guidance and told employees they will not be asked to return to an office environment until July 2021.

The tech giant said it had made the decision based on advice from “health and government experts” and that it will also be giving employees $1,000 (£763) towards a home office.

“Based on guidance from health and government experts, as well as decisions drawn from our internal discussions about these matters, we are allowing employees to continue voluntarily working from home until July 2021”, a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.

“In addition, we are giving employees an additional $1,000 for home office needs.”

The company added that it will continue to reopen offices in a restricted capacity where government guidance permits and where virus mitigation has taken place for about two months.

Facebook joins a host of other technology firms that have taken similar steps recently.

Last month, Google announced a similar decision with chief executive Sundar Pichai stating the company’s 200,000 workers would not have to return until next July.

“To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don’t need to be in the office,” a statement read.

Similarly, Twitter previously told staff that they can work remotely forever as part of a new restructuring due to the pandemic.

The company’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, sent an email to staff stating that employees would receive a $1,000 allowance to equip themselves with the tools necessary to work-from-home and that the office was unlikely to open before September for those who wanted to return.

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