Zoom announces hybrid return to workplace

Zoom has announced that it will adopt a hybrid approach as it prepares for a return to office working.

It said an internal survey of employees found only 1% wanted to return to the office full-time.

The pandemic spurred huge growth for the video calls platform, with sales in the last three months of 2020 up 370% compared with the same period in 2019.

The company said it would strategically mix remote and in-office working, but admitted that it was “not easy”.

Zoom’s employee poll found that more than half of its staff preferred a hybrid approach, with the remainder favouring or already working fully remotely.

Writing on a company blog, chief financial officer Kelly Steckelberg said it was “still experimenting with how that even looks”.

“We opened our Sydney, Australia, office this summer, but temporarily closed it soon after, as Covid-19 threatened the area. We plan to reopen again when it is safe, but this could impact plans to reopen a second location this fall [autumn],” she wrote.

The firm said it would not rush office reopenings and that no office would open until it was “possible to do so without personal protective equipment and social distancing”.

Some other tech firms are also being cautious.

Recently, Apple delayed recalling staff to the office until January at the earliest amid fears over surging Covid cases. – bbc.com