Shopify (SHOP -2.50%) has joined the growing list of companies to require all employees to work remotely and is throwing in a $1,000 stipend to ease the pain.
On Wednesday, the e-commerce company that helps small businesses set up and manage online stores, announced its entire workforce of 5,000 would work remotely. Most of its staff are located in Canada, but it also has offices around the globe, including the U.S., China, and the UK. According to Shopify, 30% of its staff or more than 1,000 employees already work at home.
"Working from home will help play a part in reducing the spread of the virus, and hopefully lessen its potentially huge burden on the healthcare system," the company tweeted when announcing the plan.
Image source: Getty Images.
Building on that announcement, Shopify told Business Insider it is offering a $1,000 stipend to employees to purchase office equipment.The money can be used for lighting, desks, chairs and other supplies. Employees have to use their work-issued laptops, monitors, and keyboards at home.
Working from home is becoming the standard response to the coronavirus outbreak. With the cases rising in the U.S. and the World Health Organization calling it a pandemic, companies are taking drastic steps to slow the spread. Alphabet's (GOOG 0.10%) (GOOGL 0.13%) Google has urged all North American employees to work from home and Twitter (TWTR) just made it a requirement for its global workforce. Twitter has pledged to cover some of the costs associated with a home office. Facebook (META -1.35%) is giving employees free Portal Video chat devices upon request. The social media giant is also reimbursing employees for the cost to upgrade their Internet and for office supplies.
