These companies’ workers may never go back to the office

As the United States prepares for another wave of the coronavirus, some companies are making plans to keep their employees remote for the forseeable future. Here are some companies that might never go back to the structure of a traditional office. Dropbox The tech company’s nearly 3,000 employees will continue to work remotely the majority of the time, but will occasionally go to a revamped offices, which will be called “Dropbox (DBX) Studios,” for collaborative and team-building work. Facebook Mark Zuckerberg said as many as 50% of Facebook (FB)’s employees could be working remotely within the next five to 10 years. He pitched the idea in an effort to satisfy employee preferences and to create “more broad-based economic prosperity.” Okta Software company Okta (OKTA), which provides worker-login software to nearly 9,000 organizations including JetBlue, Nordstrom and Slack, expects as much as 85% of its workforce to work remotely under the new policy. Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, 30% of the company worked remotely. The company has roughly 2,600 employees. Shopify In May, Shopify (SHOP) announced that it was transitioning to be a “digital-by-default” company. That means that even if the company reopens its offices in 2021, most employees will work remotely on a permanent basis. According to Shopify (SHOP) CEO Tobi Lütke, “Office centricity is over.” Slack Slack (WORK), which provides communications platforms that make working remotely possible for hundreds of workplaces, has opened roles that can be filled by remote candidates, and most Slack (WORK) employees have the option to work remotely on a permanent basis. Square Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s other company, Square (SQ), plans to allow staff members to work from home even after the pandemic ends. Square said it wants employees to be able to work from an environment that suits their needs. Twitter Twitter (TWTR) said it will allow some of its employees to work from home “forever.” The tech company said the experience of working from home for the past several months has shown that it can work at scale for the long-haul. Zillow Zillow (Z), a real-estate marketplace company, is giving its employees more work-from-home flexibility. The company expects some to work-from-home permanently, while others may come into the office a few times a month or a couple days a week.