Salesforce to reopen San Francisco headquarters in May on limited basis
Salesforce said its first US office reopening will be its Salesforce Tower in San Francisco in May with vaccinated employees who volunteer to come back. Employees will have the option to work remote through 2021.
That approach in the San Francisco office will be replicated in Palo Alto and Irvine. At first, fully vaccinated employees will be able to volunteer to be in groups of 100 or fewer people to work on designated floors. Salesforce added that it will have onsite COVID-19 testing mandated twice a week.
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Offices will then gradually reopen from 20% to 75% capacity depending on data and guidance from local health officials. Salesforce noted that it will ultimately have both vaccinated and non-vaccinated employees in the office following safety protocols and testing.
The company has 22 offices open around the world including mostly Asia Pacific locations and Israel. Salesforce said it has 5 offices including Sydney that are open to 100% capacity.
For Salesforce, the office reopening serves as a solid case study for its Work.com platform. The company has also created best practices and a playbook for enterprises to reopen. Salesforce plans to manage everything from elevator bottlenecks to social distancing to employee health.
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In addition, Salesforce has said it will revamp the office with redesigned spaces to collaborate, touch free handles and sensors, plexiglass between desks, air purifiers and screening stations.
As Salesforce reopens, it has been collecting data on how employees are working. For instance, Thursday is the most popular day to use the office with employees starting the week at home. On Wednesday and Thursday, collaboration space is 80% used.
Meanwhile, collaboration spaces are utilized in Sydney at a 64% clip and only 24% of desk space used.