Facebook's office reopening plans reportedly include limiting capacity to 25%, checking temperatures, and mandating that employees wear face masks
- Facebook has made plans for how employees will return to work, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
- Beginning on July 6, some Facebook offices will reopen for employees, though reportedly at only 25% capacity.
- Facebook will also limit the number of employees in meeting rooms, space work stations six feet apart, close down gyms, and limit office cafeterias to "grab-and-go" meals, Bloomberg reports.
- Facebook will also reportedly ban outside visitors and mandate face masks in certain cases.
- Facebook has previously said its employees can work remotely for the rest of 2020, and has canceled large in-person events until mid-2021.
Facebook has made plans for how its employees will begin returning to work, and it will mark a major shift to how the tech giant's office previously operated.
Beginning in early July, Facebook will allow some employees to return to work, but limit its offices to 25% capacity, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Kurt Wagner. Facebook also plans to place employees on shifts and mandate that they have their temperatures checked.
Bloomberg reports that the company is putting other rules in place for employees returning to the office, including:
- A limit on the number of employees in a meeting room
- Work stations placed six feet apart
- "Grab-and-go" meals instead of a buffet-style cafeteria
- Closing down the employee gyms
- Banning outside visitors
- Masks for employees who are not able to social distance. (Some offices will mandate employees wear masks at all times.)
- Social distancing on employee shuttle buses.
A spokesperson for Facebook did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Facebook, which is based in Menlo Park, California, asked its employees to begin working from home on March 6 as the coronavirus spread in the Bay Area. At the time, it canceled its F8 developer conference — often the the company's biggest event of the year — and pulled out of SXSW in Austin Texas. Facebook has since canceled all of its large in-person events until June 2021 and told employees they can continue working remotely for the rest of 2020.
Earlier this month, Facebook said it would begin reopening its offices on July 6. According to Bloomberg, employees who work in divisions like hardware and operations will be asked to return then, as their jobs are more difficult to do remotely.
Although Facebook's transition to remote work appears to have been smooth, CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged last month the challenges of reopening offices.
"We know that most people can't work from home as easily as many of our employees can," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. "We also know that when society does eventually start re-opening, it will have to open slowly in staggered waves to make sure that the people who are returning to work can do so safely and that we minimize the possibility of future outbreaks."
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