As the pandemic moves on after 25 months, companies are continuing to push to bring employees back to the office but Bungie sees more of a future in remote working at the company as it’s committing to a “digital-first” hiring policy going forward.
As a part of the announcement of the US-only policy, Bungie says “most current and future roles will be fully remote eligible.” Any upcoming remote opportunities at the studio won’t be limited to just Destiny 2 but seemingly its rumoured unannounced IP too.
At this point, the policy is applicable to select states only, including California, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, with more coming soon. The reason why not every state is in the blue mostly has to do with taxes, as the company has “to pay/withhold payroll taxes, provide benefits, comply with state employment laws”, according to Bungie talent sourcer Matt Purcell. Another reason for the states might have to do with access to a fast internet connection, which is assumed to be necessary to get work done at the now Sony-owned developer.
“Over the past two years, we have redefined how we work at Bungie. The transition to work-from-home wasn’t easy, but the results speak for themselves. Today, it’s clear that a digital-first workplace isn’t the future of work – it is already here, and we are all in,” Bungie CEO, Pete Parsons said in a statement on Twitter.
Even still, the original Halo developer is still offering employees to go back to the physical office, as long as local employees in the Washington area have proof of vaccination and health screening which is required and provided. This is only for those that are willing, as no one is being forced into that position as they have “largely there has not been pressure to do so” at the studio, says Bungie community manager, Liana Ruppert.
