The new decade hasn’t gone off to a good start with the
Australian bushfires and the coronavirus gracing us with its presence. The
latter, however, has had an adverse effect on the whole world. As businesses
were shut down, the employees were requested to work from home. Google has
confirmed that it will allow its employees to continue working remotely till
June next year.
An email was sent to the staff earlier today from Sundar
Pichai addressing the matter. The email stated, “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.”
This move from Google is one of the more significant
announcements from a company regarding the extension of remote work to date.
Other tech companies have also moved forward their work from home policy to a
later date, but none of them was as aggressive as Google this time. It was very
much in an optimistic estimation that the COVID-19 pandemic would be over
within a few months, but with the latest situation regarding the virus, the
case seems unlikely.
In May, Google CEO announced that a small number of
employees are offered to return to one of the various offices – making up 10%
of the occupancy in the building, all while maintaining social distancing of
course. The companies are looking forward to the end of this pandemic so that
the working situation can get back to normal. However, they are also being
flexible with the constant extension of working from home and adjusting their
approach to remote work simultaneously.
