Twitter has told employees that they can choose to work from home forever if they wish as the coronavirus lockdown continues to shape the new normal in working culture.

The San Francisco-based company has also announced that they will not be reopening their offices before September, “with very few exceptions”. Even when offices do reopen, the staff will be able to choose whether they want to return to them.

In a blog post detailing the decision, Twitter’s People VP Jennifer Christie said that although Twitter “was one of the first companies to go to a work from home model in the face of COVID-19”, the company does “not anticipate being one of the first to return to offices”.

“Opening offices will be our decision, when and if our employees come back, will be theirs,” she said.

The decision was made after Twitter has found that their 4,600 employees can work from home in a successful manner. Nevertheless, Christie emphasised that staff who prefer working from the offices will be able to do so: “Our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it’s safe to return.”

The company also announced a ban on business travel before September, as well in-person company events for the rest of the year. Events scheduled for 2021 are to be assessed by the end of 2020.

Commenting on Twitter’s announcement, Saka Nuru, head of product marketing for Fintech Eco Systems and Payments at Intuit Quickbooks, said that “we will no doubt see more [companies] follow in Twitter’s footsteps in the months to come”.

“The fact that Twitter can commit to this promise, is an indication of how adept our technology solutions have been at facilitating remote working. Cloud-enabled Software-as-a-Service solutions as well as video conferencing service have evidently been a huge success when transitioning to a largely at-home environment, even for larger companies,” he said.

Twitter’s unprecedented announcement comes days after Facebook and Google confirmed that they will continue to allow employees to work from home for the rest of the year. Apple, on the other hand, is reportedly planning to allow some employees back into its global offices soon, including its Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California. ​