Zoom Announces Hybrid Comeback To Workplace

Video teleconferencing platform, Zoom has announced on Wednesday that it will adopt a hybrid approach as it prepares for a comeback to office work.

Zoom said that it will adopt a hybrid approach as it prepares for a return to office working and that an internal survey of employees found only 1% wanted to return to the office full-time.

Zoom's employee poll found that more than half of its staff preferred a hybrid approach, with the remainder favouring or already working fully remotely.

The COVID_19 pandemic spurred huge growth for the video calls platform, with sales in the last three months of 2020 up 370% compared with the same period in 2019.

The company announced that it would deliberately blend remote and in-office working, but admitted that it was "not easy".

Writing on a company blog, chief financial officer Kelly Steckelberg said it was "still experimenting with how that even looks".

"We opened our Sydney, Australia, office this summer, but temporarily closed it soon after, as Covid-19 threatened the area. We plan to reopen again when it is safe, but this could impact plans to reopen a second location this fall [autumn]," she wrote.

Zoom announced that it would not reopen its office in a hurry until it was "possible to do so without personal protective equipment and social distancing".