More WA Microsoft Workers Can Return To The Office March 29

REDMOND, WA — As Washington forges ahead with reopening, Microsoft is poised to welcome thousands of employees back to its headquarters and other Seattle-area offices on March 29, marking a significant shift since the tech giant went fully-remote one year ago.

As the Associated Press reports, more than 50,000 workers are employed at the company's global headquarters in Redmond.

Kurt DelBene, executive vice president at Microsoft, announced the new hybrid work model Monday, coinciding with the state reaching Phase 3 in the Healthy Washington reopening plan.

DelBene writes:

"In March last year, I sent an email to our employees worldwide, indicating we were instituting a mandatory work-from-home policy for our global work sites, excepting essential on-site workers. As of today, after over a year in which most Microsoft employees have worked remotely, several of our work sites around the globe have reached a stage that meets or exceeds government requirements to accommodate more workers, while many other employees will continue to work remotely. 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."

Employees will have the option to continue working from home, return to the office full-time or do a little of both.

"Taking the example of our Redmond campus, we've been closely monitoring local health data for months and have determined that the campus can safely accommodate more employees on-site while staying aligned to Washington state capacity limits," DelBene wrote. "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."

DelBene said Microsoft landed on a six-stage hybrid workplace model, designed to account for evolving government guidance and allow for a unified, nimble corporate plan that is responsive to changing conditions.

Puget Sound campuses will reach the fourth stage later this month, which the company labels a "soft open." Employees are still encouraged to work remotely, as possible, until the sixth and final stage.

An internal survey of employees that have already resumed in-person work at other sites found most were still limiting time spent on-site, according to Microsoft.

"Based on the data, we see that 54% of survey respondents who have chosen to return in Stage 4 are spending less than 25% of their time at one of our work sites," DelBene wrote. "Furthermore, 69% are spending 50% or less time on-site. We understand these responses are based on the current landscape where many employees are not yet vaccinated and many schools remain closed. We’ll continue to listen and incorporate employee feedback as conditions and circumstances evolve."

Those who choose to spend some time in the office will find several health and safety measures in place, DelBene said, developed according to public health guidance:

• We have assessed all Microsoft work sites to understand what adjustments are needed to enable social distancing and meet local health standards and will provide all employees and external staff personal supplies such as disinfectant wipes and face coverings to use while on-site.
• To meet local capacity guidelines and social distancing requirements, we have implemented attendance strategies for team-based or open/shared spaces, physical space adjustments when needed, or a combination of both based on organizational needs.
• We have adjusted our facilities and a number of on-site service offerings. For example, we have limited capacity in conference rooms and Microsoft transportation services, posted signage in common areas and cafeterias to ensure social distancing, and provided hand sanitizers throughout our buildings.
• We have established similar, consistent standards that apply to our employees when they travel to our other work sites and for customers and partners when they visit our sites.

Moving forward, Microsoft has also enlisted a team of researchers, engineers and other experts to study the most effective hybrid meeting configurations and other remote setups.

"Though we don't know how far off the new normal is, we are adapting to a new way of working with an expanded understanding of flexibility," DelBene wrote. "We know there are thousands of ways of working — in the last year our employees have shown what is possible — and we believe that flexibility is essential to maintaining work-life balance.

Learn more about Microsoft's "soft open" in Washington on the company's official blog.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.