Sundar Pichai: Google to Let Employees Work from Home Until July 2021.

We are halfway through 2020 and it looks like many of us will spend the rest of the year holed up inside our homes. Most workplaces are in no hurry to get employees back to the office. Setting an example is Google, which consistently tops the list of “Best Companies to Work For”. On Monday, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet, informed employees that they could work from home until mid-2021.

Google has decided that most of its 200,000 employees and contractors should work from home through next June. It’s a sobering assessment of the pandemic’s potential staying power.https://t.co/U5d6Sj2v6v

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 27, 2020

“To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we’ll be extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don’t need to be in the office,” Sundar Pichai wrote in a memo to employees. “I hope this will offer the flexibility you need to balance work with taking care of yourselves and your loved ones over the next 12 months.” He also said the company has reopened 42 offices around the world.

Here’s the memo @sundarpichai sent to Googlers extending work-from-home through summer 2021 — the latest of any major tech company. (Some, like Twitter, have told employees to expect to work from home permanently.) https://t.co/O0nFwP8IAZ

— graham starr (@GrahamStarr) July 27, 2020

Google employees have been working remotely since March due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. They were expected to return to offices by January 2021 but have now extended the work-fr0m-home policy, as the virus continues to spread.

Excerpt: The extended timeline applies to company employees in most of its major offices, including the headquarters of Mountain View, Calif. …

Until now, Google had told its employees to expect a return to the office beginning in January. https://t.co/FW710BLqxY

— Michael Bolden (@michaelbolden) July 27, 2020

The move will affect 5,000 Google employees working in India. The company has a major presence in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

Google’s decision could encourage other companies to follow suit. The tech industry has been quick to adapt to the new normal in this time of pandemic. Facebook and Twitter had earlier announced that some of its employees could continue working from home indefinitely.

“Google will keep its employees at home until next July at least.
Facebook is letting employees stay remote through the end of 2020, and thinks up to 50 percent of its employees may stay remote by 2030.
Employees at Twitter and Square will be able to work from home indefinitely.” https://t.co/pE41BYxwN4

— Marc Hameleers (@MarcHameleersNL) July 27, 2020

The work-from-home policy is assuring but an extended deadline only means that no one is really sure when this pandemic will end.