share on
Music streaming and media services provider Spotify announced on Friday that it is implementing a work-from-anywhere policy for all of its employees that will remain in effect even once the Covid-19 pandemic has ended.
It will allow employees to opt to be in the office full time, at home full time or a combination of the two – the so-called hybrid working model. It follows on from initiatives undertaken last year by a number of social media and tech companies, including Twitter, Facebook and Google to abandon traditional work culture.
The Swedish-headquartered audio streaming giant said in a statement that, “it was a new way of collaborating that allows Spotifiers to work from wherever they do their best thinking and creating”.
“Through this distributed-first mentality, we are giving employees the opportunity to elect a work mode – whether they'd prefer to work mostly at home or in the office – as well as their location,” it added.
It is understood that the company will continue to pay San Francisco or New York pay rates, based on the type of role. Spotify will also redesign its office space to meet employees’ preferences for quiet spaces, shared-desk spaces and common areas.
Spotify’s shift to a hybrid working model comes just days after an announcement by cloud computing company Salesforce, in which it said it would give employees the option to work predominantly from home give them flexibility around their daily schedules for taking care of children or sorting out their personal affairs.
HR strategy behind Spotify’s decision
A big motivator to Spotify’s move to hybrid working, is a way to provide more compelling – and engaging – compensation & benefits to its global teams. The firm’s dedicated HR blog outlines the competitive advantages of a flexible approach to work and describing it as the jewel in it its “talent attraction crown.”
Recent research from Gartner revealed that almost half (48%) of employees now expect to work from home even after the pandemic is over, so Spotify’s decision is very likely to attract and retaining top talent, it was reported in tech magazine Wired.
As an extra incentive, employees given greater flexibility over their working life will have a better chance of achieving work-life balance – something that has been a challenge for many during the Covid crisis.
Spotify is headquartered in Stockholm and employs more than 5500 staff in 79 countries.
Image courtesy Spotify
Hong Kong Readers' Survey 2021: We'd love to hear from you! Please let us know what want to see in your HR news by taking our short survey. Thank you!
share on
