Salesforce rolls out permanent remote work plans

One year into the Covid-19 pandemic, Salesforce is rolling out plans to let employees work remotely on a permanent basis. To meet the new needs of its employees, the CRM giant also plans to revamp its iconic office towers. 

Once it's safe to return to the office, most of Salesforce's employees around the globe will only go into an office one to three days a week, the company said. Employees who don't live near an office, as well as those with roles that don't require an office, will work remotely full time. 

The new plan is based on employee feedback: After surveying its employees, the company learned that nearly half only wanted to go into an office a few times a month. At the same time, 80% of employees said they wanted to maintain a connection to a physical space.

Salesforce has towers around the world, including its San Francisco headquarters, which at 1,070 feet tall is the tallest office building west of the Mississippi. The building opened for business in 2018. 

To accommodate the new, flexible work plans, Salesforce said it will redesign its workplaces as "community hubs" with collaboration and breakout spaces. Additionally, the company plans to introduce new protocols like at-home wellness attestations, temperature screenings before entry (where applicable), face coverings, regular and frequent deep cleaning, and manual contact tracing.

The news coincided with a Salesforce event in Singapore, where Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff declared, "The past is gone."

"Everybody keeps asking me what does the future look like...how are we going to create the success we want in the future," he said. "A lot of those answers are right here in Singapore," he said, citing the low number of covid cases.