Update on Slack office closures from Slack SVP of People Robby Kwok (March 16, 2020)

On March 16, Slack announced to its employees that starting Wednesday, March 18, all Slack offices will be closed. 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 expect this closure to continue through Friday, April 17. We will re-evaluate in two weeks and confirm at that time whether we’re re-opening offices or extending the closure. We want employees to have at least two weeks’ notice before reopening our offices.

This decision enables us to directly contribute to “flattening the curve” and reducing the spread of coronavirus. It’s in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations and local guidance being rolled out in most major cities globally.

Our 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 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 7.