The lockdown was a turning point for the company. The human toll has been enormous, but the business impact was potentially catastrophic: With 2 billion users and a platform that relies on demand-pull innovation, Facebook could not afford to lose access to its product. Over its first three months, the service was down for just 10 days or less than 2% of the lockdown period. The company achieved this by deploying a unique combination of emergency plans developed before the lockdown and new innovations implemented during it. The approach allowed Facebook employees to continue working in an environment conducive to productivity, creativity, and well-being during the crisis.
Facebook has been positioned as a beacon of diversity in the technology industry. The tech giant has been at the forefront of promoting a workplace where people can work from wherever they want. Facebook has embraced remote work for over a year, and it’s been great for the company. The social media platform has seen a 50% increase in the number of women in technical roles and a 100% increase in underrepresented minorities since making the shift to distributed workspaces. In January, Facebook announced plans to hire thousands more engineers, most of whom will be working remotely rather than under one roof like at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
Facebook has experienced significant benefits since embracing remote work. Employees are more innovative, happier and productive. There is greater gender and ethnic diversity due to reduced commute times while helping Facebook with hiring efforts by allowing employees to work where they feel most comfortable. Remote working also enables employees with children to have better work-life balance.
According to a Facebook memo published by CNBC, the company’s remote-first policy has impacted how its employees interact. While some offices have more remote workers than others, more than 3,000 Facebook employees work remotely in its U.S. offices. It also said it is looking to increase this number over time by providing services like video chat and chatbots that replace phone calls or emails.
Dil Bole Oberoi
