Spotify this week joined a growing number of tech giants expanding their work from home policies as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drag on. While not as radical as Twitter’s recent decision to let staff work from home forever, the music streaming service’s move does represent increased openness to the arrangement.
As noted by Variety, the new policy allows staff to continue working from home through the end of the year. The new edict covers all employees across the globe. The streaming service is headquartered in Stockholm, with a number of regional offices, including New York, London and Tokyo. Spotify operates in 79 countries around the world.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed the move with TechCrunch:
Earlier today, we announced the extension of our work-from-home arrangement for all Spotify employees globally. We will continue to track local government guidelines city-by-city and take a phased approach of opening our offices when we deem it safe to do so. Our employees’ health and safety is our top priority. No employee will be required to come into the office and can choose to work from home through the end of the year.
The announcement follows similar moves from tech giants, like Facebook and Google. Many have long weighed the ups and downs of a remote workforce, but COVID-19 has caused an acceleration in that way of thinking. These past few months have been a kind of trial by fire for the model.
Even as many regions have begun to reopen, however, the potential for additional waves of the virus have made the option that much more appealing.
