Social media giant had already announced mandatory remote work for employees in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea
Social media giant Twitter on Monday announced that it was “strongly encouraging” all its employees globally to work from home if they are able to do so in a bid to lower the spread of the novel coronavirus sweeping the world.
In a posting on its official blog, the company announced that this latest initiative hoped to bolster previously announced restrictions under which all non-critical business travel and events had been cancelled.
“Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus for us—and the world around us,” said the blog post. “We are operating out of an abundance of caution and the utmost dedication to keeping our Tweeps healthy,” it added.
According to the blog, the company’s offices would remain open to maintain job functions that prevent employees from operating remotely. To ensure they encounter a safe and healthy environment, the company is “increasing deep cleaning and sanitizing in all spaces, as well as more visual reminders for personal hygiene best practices and pre-packaged, pre-composed, and pre-plated food options.”
The Twitter announcement follows the company announcing that working from home had become mandatory for employees based in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea due partly to government restrictions.
In addition to Twitter, Apple recently shuttered all operations in mainland China to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Google also instructed its Dublin office to work from home on Tuesday as a “precautionary measure” after one of its employees reported flu-like symptoms.