Salesforce is keeping staff home until July 31, 2021, and have implemented support for assisting with employees childcare needs via dedicated funds. The company is also allocating funds to equipment for work from home and expanded family care leave. In June, the company offered childcare support funding through the summer, allowing its employees to be reimbursed up to $100 a day for five days each month. That program has now been extended through the end of January.
The list continues to grow – Google, Facebook, slack, Shopify, PayPal, and Uber are all on the list of companies who have extended through the end of the year or summer 2021.
Why do we care?
I pulled this story because of my reference yesterday to childcare. One of the opportunities this current upheaval brings is the ability to reexamine how companies invest in their staff. Particularly for companies for whom labor is the most important part of their costs – which is technology services companies – look at how retention and staff investment is done.
Those banks of in office food and drink, or lavish offices for technology companies… they aren’t paying off right now. Investments in people, like supporting them in their work / life balance, assisting their families, or ensuring their work from home environment is productive, are paying off.
It’s not too late, and an investment here will be something not only for the pandemic, which looks like it will continue for a while, but beyond.
Source: CRN