Microsoft planning to let employees back into office with hybrid workplace

The American multinational technology company Microsoft Corporation, is planning to resume its Redmond and Seattle, Washington-based base camp in the not so distant future.

According to The Verge, the software giant initially began urging representatives to work from home over a year prior, just as the coronavirus pandemic started, and the organisation's main US workplaces have stayed shut for quite a long time subsequently.

This will begin to change on March 29, this year with a restricted reopening of Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond and Seattle.

Kurt DelBene, Microsoft's head of corporate strategy said, "Currently, Microsoft work sites in 21 countries have been able to accommodate additional workers in our facilities - representing around 20% of our global employee population."

"On March 29, Microsoft will also start making this shift at our Redmond, Washington, headquarters and nearby campuses," he added.

Microsoft disclosed that the company is adopting this progressive strategy to be in accordance with local authority restrictions and that the organisation has decided it can now securely oblige more employees while adhering to Washington state limit limits.

"As we watch for progress against the virus in the region and continue to evaluate our guidance, employees who work at Redmond work sites or nearby campuses have the choice to return to those facilities or to continue working remotely, and also have the flexibility to do a mixture of both," explains DelBene.

As reported by The Verge, this is the start of a resuming of Microsoft's workplaces, as a feature of six phases the organisation laid out a year ago. This is stage four, or what's known as a delicate opening, to permit more workers back. Stage five moves workplaces into open with limitations before stage six is completely open without limitations.

Close by this resuming, the organisation is likewise zeroing in on a crossbreed work environment as it expects continued demand for remote working and adaptability among its own workers and elsewhere.

Microsoft is delivering a 2021 variant of its Work Trend Index, a report that remembers information and examination for how representatives and organizations are reacting to the pandemic, reported The Verge.

Microsoft has tracked down that 73% of its workers surveyed want to proceed with adaptable distant work. Microsoft itself presently considers working from home part-time as standard for its employees, and the organisation is investigating better approaches for utilising innovation to overcome any barrier between far off work and customary workplaces.

"We've pulled together a group of Microsoft researchers, engineers and real estate and facilities experts to prototype hybrid meeting spaces at our Redmond, Washington, and UK campuses," explains DelBene.

"The group is investigating different meeting configurations and technologies like multiple screens, cameras and mixed reality scenarios to understand the most effective, inclusive set-up for hybrid work," he added.

The Verge quoted that this work is still early, but Microsoft is prototyping tweaking existing technology to help with meetings and remote work and even improving Microsoft Teams to bridge the gap. That may well involve turning all of the screens in your home into Teams-capable devices to allow home workers to see employees on the big screen. Microsoft hinted at this type of concept during its Ignite event earlier this month.