We are beginning 2021, and the COVID-19 pandemic is still going strong. Are you working from the comfort and safety of your home? or has your employer stated you had to go back into the office?
With COVID-19 not exactly slowing down or becoming redundant, employees are often reluctant to go back to the office to work due to populated areas’ health risks. To make matters worse, COVID-19 still is rapidly infecting large amounts of people. Leaving your household imposes a risk anywhere you go.
Ok, of course, being strict with hygiene practices and social distancing will help you reduce the possibilities of contamination. There isn’t a 100% guarantee that it will not infect you.
Working from home shines in times like these, as it provides a haven for both yourself and your family. With proper hygiene practicing and limiting going outside within populated areas, you can ensure no virus can infect you. But only of course, if it’s done correctly.
Now let’s explain how Shopify has achieved it and what Shopify has done for its platform employees during the pandemic.
What is Shopify
Shopify is an online e-commerce platform that lets anybody set up an online store to sell their products. With addons like Shopify POS & plugins, it makes it the ultimate easy-to-use e-commerce system tailored specifically for your niche requirements.
With Shopify, a merchant (seller) can sell services, consultations, digital products, memberships, classes, lessons, physical products, and many more.
How can you use Shopify at home?
Since Shopify is an online e-commerce website that allows merchants to open online virtual stores within their platform, it removes the requirement of a warehouse or an office.
Many merchants have opted into storing goods in their home garages, bedrooms, etc. Some even switched into intangible goods, like services, memberships, and digital items.
For physical products, couriers can be arranged to pick up at your home location, with careful distancing and hygiene practices, can make it a very safe & enjoyable process.
With cheap setup fees, affordable monthly running costs, and a straightforward business structure to Shopify stores, why not try it out when the global market has been starting to transition to online and e-commerce trading.
What is Shopify doing with its employees?
You may have heard on the news that Twitter announced that its employees would work from home until the start of 2021 to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on its employees.
Shopify has joined the movement after its CEO, Mr. Tobi Lutker, announced that more than 5,000 of its employees and contractors found worldwide will work from home after closing down its offices.
After a bunch of tweets from Mr. Lutke, he announced not only that the offices will be closed till 2021 but stated that if his employees wish to work from home permanently, they can do so.
“As of today, Shopify is a digital company by default. We will keep the offices closed until 2021 so employees can adjust to the slight change. After that, most will permanently work remotely,” the tweet reads from Mr. Lutke. He went on further to state, “Office centricity is over.”
The future is now
Mr. Lutke is a big believer in working remotely, emphasizing the need to bridge gaps between offices and home. He believes instead of employees getting 
advantages by working in an office having access to valuable resources, those who work remotely from home should have the same experience and resources.
The Shopify CEO shared that companies with excellent work culture always strive to evolve with times instead of holding onto redundant methodologies, reminding people that “evolution is not a choice, it’s the future.”
Shopify does set the workforce’s presence having 17 offices worldwide scattered on five different continents and 12 other countries. To top this movement off, Shopify beat the Royal Bank of Canada in being the most valuable publicly traded firm. Embracing the change of remote working is working wonders for Shopify and its employees.
We haven’t even discussed the most significant result of shifting to a remote style operation by Shopify yet. The most remarkable result of this movement is that it will increase opportunities in gaining more remote workers across the world, making it a versatile style of service provided to Shopify merchants and vendors.
Shopify CEO Mr. Lutke also extended some other reasons for changing to a digital by default business structure, which includes reducing the company’s carbon footprint, reducing disaggregated footprints, and providing a safer haven for employees while expanding its operations worldwide in more countries.
Wrap Up
While the COVID-19 virus is around, large companies such as Twitter & Shopify are taking the initiative to look after their employees by changing to a digital by default business structure to allow remote working from home. While Shopify closes all its offices till 2021, employees have the option of working from home permanently.
This move has provided safety to its employees and has provided a way to expand its operations by allowing remote employees to apply for jobs within Shopify to work from the comfort of their homes right across anywhere in the world.
Shopify also has options for its merchants, allowing the public to have low-cost e-commerce stores to sell all sorts of items online to earn an income. If you decide to open a business but the COVID-19 pandemic worries you, fear not; Shopify may be the online option you have been waiting for all along.
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