Dropbox makes remote working permanent for employees

Remote working will be default, with offices becoming creative spaces

Dropbox has made remote working its default set-up for all employees permanently, claiming that most of its employees have said they don't want to return to the "pre-pandemic office schedule".

The software vendor said that its "virtual first" model will mean that all of its near-3000 workforce will work out of the office as their "primary experience".

Offices will become "hubs to spark creativity", it added.

"This year's sudden shift to distributed work due to the COVID-19 pandemic was abrupt and unprecedented," said CEO Drew Houston.

"Even though our product was built for this and our transition was relatively seamless, many of the things we've been trying to solve for as a company have intensified during this time — always-on hours, constant notifications, and fragmented tools.

"We're laser focused on designing products to transform how remote work happens and by living the reality of virtual first day to day, we think we'll better understand our customers' needs and be well positioned to evolve our product accordingly."

Dropbox said it expects to lift its mandatory working from home policy in June next year.

Microsoft announced last week that it will let more employees work from home post-pandemic and published guidelines for hybrid working internally.

Workers will be allowed to work from home freely for less than half the week, or liaise with managers to make the move permanent.

Microsoft is still operating a mostly remote workforce in light of the pandemic.

"Our goal to offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual workstyles, while balancing business needs and ensuring we live our culture," chief people officer Kathleen Hogan said.