Update on Slack office closures from Slack SVP of People Robby Kwok (April 2, 2020)

On April 2, Slack announced to its employees that all Slack offices will remain closed through the end of May, with a current planned return date of Monday, June 1. This decision is based on recommendations from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local governments.

Employees who are able to will work from home. Those who cannot work from home will continue to be paid as usual—this includes contractors and people paid hourly.  

We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide employees with confirmation of the planned June 1 return date at least two weeks before offices reopen.

In the meantime, Slack employees are safe and are able to continue working normally—wherever they are. We are also executing against our pre-established business continuity and pandemic plans. While no systems can perfectly anticipate every contingency, we are confident in our product’s technical architecture and its ability to handle the increased volume and load. For information about Slack’s business continuity plans, see this blog post.

This is an update to a statement released on March 16.