Starting on July 6, Google will reopen new offices for a few employees. CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post on Tuesday that although returning to work for the rest of the year would be voluntary, those who have to come in should do the same – one day every couple of weeks. The company also grants employees a $1000 allowance to make remote work easier for home office equipment.
Google aims to get more employees back in the workplace in September, before buildings have hit a capacity of around 30%. Those who have to come to work are notified by 10 June.
He also claimed that, after the pandemic lifts, it will be more versatile to work remotely. "We want more total consistency in how we work, going forward," he said. "Our campuses have been designed to enable collaboration and community .... at the same time we have extensive knowledge about distributed work because we have many offices all over the world and are keen on learning throughout this period."
The news arrives a week after Mark Zuckerberg, CEO at Facebook, announces that Facebook will provide employees with access to work far beyond the pandemic and say that it is "the forward-looking enterprise in our remote industry."
Twitter and Square introduced specific strategies to expand online services permanently to most workers.
