This Company With 54,000 Global Employees Just Declared That The 9-To-5 Workday Is Dead

In a blog post published on Tuesday, 9 February, the company's chief people officer Brent Hyder wrote that "an immersive workspace is no longer limited to a desk in our towers".

The company believes that "in our always-on, always-connected world, it no longer makes sense to expect employees to work an eight-hour shift and do their jobs successfully".

Emphasising on the need for flexibility to be successful, Salesforce cited picking up young kids from school or caring for sick family members as reasons for creating more flexible schedules.

"As employers, we have an opportunity to create an even better workplace — one that allows us to be more connected to each other, find more balance between work and home, and advance equality — ultimately leading to increased innovation and better business outcomes," read the blog post.

According to the company, it ran a survey in the early day of the pandemic last year and learned that "nearly half of our employees want to come in only a few times per month".

It also learned that "80% of employees want to maintain a connection to a physical space".

Based on which, Salesforce says it is giving employees flexibility in how, when, and where they work.

It said most of the 54,000-person workforce will be "flex" employees, meaning they'll only come into the office one to three days per week "for team collaboration, customer meetings, and presentations".

According to the company, employees who don't need to come into the office or don't live near one will be able to work remotely permanently — except perhaps in very rare situations.

Office-based employees will be "the smallest population of our workforce".

What it means is that Salesforce will allow its employees to choose one of the three categories that dictate how often, if ever, they return to the office once it's safe to do so after the pandemic.

"To start, we'll be redesigning our workspaces over time as community hubs to accommodate a more hybrid workstyle. Gone are the days of a sea of desks — we'll create more collaboration and breakout spaces to foster the human connection that can’t be replicated remotely," it said.