In an era when workers are returning to offices, here’s how Dropbox is making remote jobs work

(AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin)

NEW YORK (AP) — Many companies ended remote work arrangements that began during the coronavirus pandemic despite resistance from employees who grew accustomed to working from home.

Dropbox has no plans to return its workers to offices. After adopting a “virtual-first” staffing model in 2020, the San Francisco technology company met all of its financial goals and remains committed to making remote work the norm for the vast majority of its employees, according to Chief People Officer Melanie Rosenwasser.

“The pandemic tested our assumption that we have to be in person in order to be productive,” she said.

Allowing employees to work from anywhere helps Dropbox retain talent, said Rosenwasser, who leads the cloud storage provider’s human resources teams. Over time, the company refined scheduling practices, meeting protocols and employee well-being programs to better meet the needs of its “distributed” workforce, she said.