Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Catch up on the day's biggest business stories
Subscribe to Axios Closer for insights into the day’s business news and trends and why they matter
Stay on top of the latest market trends
Subscribe to Axios Markets for the latest market trends and economic insights. Sign up for free.
Sports news worthy of your time
Binge on the stats and stories that drive the sports world with Axios Sports. Sign up for free.
Tech news worthy of your time
Get our smart take on technology from the Valley and D.C. with Axios Login. Sign up for free.
Get the inside stories
Get an insider's guide to the new White House with Axios Sneak Peek. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Want a daily digest of the top Denver news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Want a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Want a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Want a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Want a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
Sign up for Axios NW Arkansas
Stay up-to-date on the most important and interesting stories affecting NW Arkansas, authored by local reporters
Photo: Johannes Simon/Getty Images
In an internal meeting with staff on Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is planning to shift the majority of its workforce to be able to work remotely in the next 5-10 years.
Why it matters: The coronavirus pandemic has forced many companies to quickly adopt remote working strategies. Tech companies, which are well-equipped for remote work, are preparing to make remote work the new normal for most of their employees.
Zuckerberg told Axios: "My prediction is that in 5-10 years we could have ~50% working remote. That's not a target, just a prediction based on the demand we've seen so far."
- "The first steps will be aggressively opening up remote hiring around the whole US and Canada, especially for experienced engineers, as well as letting some employees request to become permanent remote workers."
Details: In an interview with NBC, Zuckerberg said it "doesn't seem that good to constrain hiring to people who live around offices."
- Zuckerberg says that the company plans to unlocking remote hiring immediately. In the past, Zuckerberg had implied that working in or near a Facebook office was important towards maintaining a strong workplace culture. Now, that idea seems less feasible and less necessary, given that the company continues to perform well despite more people working remotely.
Be smart: Facebook has already said that people can work remotely through the end of 2020 if they choose. It was one of the first companies to tell employees to start working from home, if possible, in the first place. It's already said that non-essential corporate travel is cancelled until 2021.
The big picture: More remote work will be a major trend coming out of the coronavirus. Big companies like Facebook will pioneer that trend.
- Twitter and Square, both run by Jack Dorsey, announced last week that people could work from home indefinitely if they wanted to.
Go deeper: Many tech workers won't go back to offices after coronavirus crisis