Uber Will Let Employees Work From Home Until June 2021

Uber will let employees work from home through June of next year, according to CNBC.

The decision comes after Google made a similar choice, showing the newfound acceptance of remote work amid the pandemic.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the announcement at an employee meeting. The measure is not a mandate, so employees could be allowed to return to work offices if they reopen before June 2021.

Tech companies have been accepting of the new telework environment for now, although Amazon and Apple have stated that they want employees to plan to return to the office by January. Uber’s decision signals a beginning of some companies possibly marking that date later.

The outlier thus far has been Twitter, which stated its employees could work from home “forever” if they wished, even after offices were safe to be reopened.

Uber’s work during the pandemic has included an agreement to provide health agencies with contact tracing data, meaning the ways of tracking those who have tested positive for the coronavirus and anyone they might have come into contact with.

Uber said the information can be accessed in a matter of hours, with the company giving up data about everyone who had used its rideshare services and when they’d done so. The service aims to help healthcare officials reach infected people and ask them to quarantine.

The company has also required drivers and riders to wear masks, with the rule extended from its initial expiration date at the end of June, now just in place for the indefinite future.

On the other hand, Uber has run into controversy alongside other gig economy companies for not classifying workers as employees, thus making it more difficult for them to access unemployment during the pandemic due to most states’ unemployment laws.