Following earlier reporting, Google has confirmed that it will continue to allow employees to work from home through the end of June of next year. The company told TechCrunch that Sundar Pichai announced the plan in an email sent to staff earlier today.
“To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don’t need to be in the office,” the CEO wrote.
The move marks the company’s most aggressive extension of its remote work policy to date. Like many other tech companies, it appeared cautiously optimistic that things might return to normal after a couple of months. Lately, however, it’s clear that the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic won’t be going away any time soon.
Back in May, Pichai outlined plans to allow a small number of employees to return to various offices this month, all while maintaining social distancing and keeping buildings at around 10% occupancy. That same month, Twitter sent a memo noting that staff would be able to continue working from home on a permanent basis.
Depending on how long the pandemic continues to rage on, it seems reasonable to expect that even the largest tech corporations are rethinking their approach to remote work.
Source: Tech Crunch