Microsoft Corp. is implementing a remote work policy that will give employees the option to operate permanently from home at least part of the week, according to a new report.

The move was first revealed today by The Verge, which obtained internal Microsoft documents detailing its plans for a “hybrid workplace.” The top-level item is that employees will be reportedly allowed to “work from home freely” for a period that doesn’t exceed half their work week. Employees can also switch fully to telecommuting if they receive approval from their manager.

The remote work policy comes with certain conditions. If a Microsoft employee goes with the fully remote option, the company will pay their home office expenses but won’t compensate them for any relocation costs they incur if they decide to move to a new area. Moreover, fully remote employees will have to relinquish their assigned office space, though they will still have access to common areas at Microsoft locations.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all of us to think, live and work in new ways,” Microsoft Chief People Officer Kathleen Hogan was cited by the Verge as saying in an internal memo. “We will offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual workstyles, while balancing business needs, and ensuring we live our culture.”

Exactly how many employees will be eligible for remote working is not fully clear from the leaked documents. However, given how the vast majority of Microsoft’s 160,000-plus employees are already working remotely, the company is theoretically equipped to make telecommuting an option for most of its staff. The exceptions are employees whose positions strictly require them to be present in the office, for example hardware testing engineers.

It’s also unclear over what time frame Microsoft will roll out the policy. Some companies such as Twitter Inc. have signaled that they will make permanent remote work an option for most employees out of the gate, while others plan to implement their policies in stages. Facebook Inc., which in May announced plans to let up to half of its workforce operate remotely on a permanent basis, expects to achieve this goal within five to 10 years.

Lori Matloff Goler, Facebook’s vice president of people, explained at the time that the shift “ will require some big changes to our company culture, so we are going to roll this out in stages.” The process could be even more complicated for Microsoft given that it employs about three times as many people as the social network.

There are clues suggesting that physical offices will continue to be part of Microsoft’s plans at least for the time being. Earlier this week, it was reported that the company has leased 80,000 square feet of  space at an office building in Southlake, Texas. Building permits released earlier this year also indicate Microsoft is still pushing ahead with the multibillion-dollar expansion of its Redmond, Washington headquarters that it launched in 2019. 

Photo: Microsoft Sweden/Flickr