Microsoft to allow more employees to work in office again starting next week

Microsoft Corp. willstart allowing more employees to work from its headquarters in Redmond, Washington and nearby campuses as soon as next week.

Employees working at Redmond sites or nearby campuses have the choice to return to those facilities, continue working remotely or shift to a hybrid model, the company said in a blog post.

The company has a six-phase plan to reopen, and plans to begin the "soft open" phase four stage on March 29 for the 50,000 people who work at its head office.

Many companies, including Twitter Inc and Salesforce.com Inc, have started opting for hybrid or permanent remote-working models after the COVID-19 pandemic forced firms to adopt to working from home.

Microsoft is the first major company that adopted the working from home model, to shift back to in office work in any meaningful way since the pandemic began.

Microsoft said in October it would allow most of its more than 160,000 employees to clock in up to half their weekly working hours remotely, providing greater flexibility even after offices start reopening.