#LinkedIn says most employees can work from home forever

The majority of LinkedIn’s 16,000 employees will be allowed to work remotely full time, the company said Thursday, in a reversal of its previous policy.

However, workers who relocate from cities like San Francisco and New York to cheaper locales may have their pay docked based on local market rates, the company told Reuters.

LinkedIn — which is owned by Microsoft — had previously said last October that employees would be expected to work from the office at least 50 percent of the time after coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

“We anticipate that we’ll definitely see more remote employees than what we saw prior to the pandemic,” said LinkedIn’s chief people officer Teuila Hanson.

The news comes as tech companies and their employees squabble over remote work rules.

Apple has told employees they will eventually be required to work in person at least three days per week, although they have pushed the return-to-office deadline back until at least October amid the current surge in coronavirus cases.

That move has been met with resistance by some Apple employees, who circulated a letter threatening to quit if required to report to work.

Other tech companies including Twitter and Facebook have said many employees are welcome to work remotely forever — although Facebook, like LinkedIn, plans to slash pay for employees who leave Silicon Valley for cheaper areas.

Facebook and Google also told employees yesterday they would be required to be vaccinated when returning to the office.

LinkedIn, by contrast, is not currently requiring employees who want to return to the office to be vaccinated.

With Post Wires