San Francisco offices are slowly opening. Uber has already opened its offices.

Back to work

Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash

As Covid concerns recede, San Francisco companies are going back to work. Uber and Facebook are among some of the big names that have announced plans to reopen their offices.

Here are some key facts:

• Uber has already opened its San Francisco office.
• Facebook plans to open its Menlo Park office on May 10.
• SAP plans to open offices in April.

The reopening is good news for downtown San Francisco which has been devastated. Many retail shops and restaurants have permanently closed. Small business owners in the area cheered the news but remained cautious since the offices are not opening at full capacity.

Uber

Uber opened its Mission Bay offices at 20% capacity but no one is being required to return to work.

Uber is taking steps to protect its employees when they return to the office during the pandemic. Uber is requiring face masks in the offices. Workers will be required to take temperature checks at home before returning to the office.

Facebook

While companies are reopening their offices, it does not mean that they are in full swing. Facebook will open its Menlo Park office at only 10% capacity. Other companies are implementing similar restrictions. In some cases these restrictions are due to California mandate and in other cases the companies are being more cautious than the mandate requires.

Facebook does not plan to return fully to work until Q4 of this year and Mark Zuckerberg, its founder and CEO, has already suggested that the new “work from anywhere” culture has taken root and that employees will be given additional flexibility. So even after life returns to normal, not everyone will have to go back to the office five days a week. Zuckerberg has said that remote work allows Facebook to access a wider talent pool and that within a decade half of Facebook’s employees could be working from home.

For health reasons, Facebook will eliminate some of its perks. Free food and bus transportation to campuses are on the chopping block for now but it is unclear when they might be reinstated. This could bolster demand for nearby restaurants and public transit. Facebook is offering commuter benefits to those who need them but there's still a lot they don't know about what the future holds.

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