Facebook giving free Portal devices to employees: Here's why
As the cases of coronavirus continue to increase in the US, Facebook is doing everything possible to make working from home convenient for its employees. The social media giant is taking various steps, from upgrading their internet to providing Portal video chat devices without any additional charges or fees. Here's all you need to know about it.
Free Portal for those who need it
According to a CNBC report, Facebook has started giving away free Portal devices to employees who are working remotely. The goal of the company, according to a Facebook's spokesperson, is to make remote working easier by letting employees communicate with their subordinates and seniors using the video chat device, which had debuted all the way back in 2018.
Facebook offers several models of Portal
Facebook offers several camera-equipped Portal devices to allow video communication either through a TV or a handheld small screen. The devices start at $129 but have failed to take off in the market.
Other steps also being taken to ease things up
Along with the provision of free Portal devices, Facebook is also reimbursing employees for upgrading their home internet to work. The company has not set a specific stipend for remote working but is making sure that the employees get all the home office accessories they need. They just have to place an internal request and the required item would be shipped directly to them.
Facebook allowed remote working from last Thursday
Facebook hasn't asked all its employees to work from home but only those in the San Francisco Bay area in California. The decision was made last Thursday after the state reported a sudden spike in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Notably, Facebook has a workforce of thousands in the region, spread across several offices including its headquarters in Menlo Park.
Video communication services have seen a surge since outbreak
Ever since coronavirus began spreading and companies started shifting to remote working, video communication devices and services have seen a surge. Zoom, a popular video conferencing tool for enterprises, has particularly seen a lot of growth during the crisis, raking in more active users in the first few months of 2020 than it did throughout all of 2019.
