Google is extending the time its employees can work from home until the summer of next year. The tech giant hopes the decision will benefit the health of its employees. Google is gearing up for the long haul during a time when tech companies are turning to a work-from-home strategy and taking advantage of its numerous benefits.
The announcement comes just months after Google initially revealed its plans to permit employees to work from home until the end of the year. A result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Google employees started working remotely as early as March. The company even compensated its employees so they could transform their homes into viable working spaces. Despite the possible hazards that a work-from-home scenario presents on the US economy, many tech companies like Google are leaning towards it, as a means of protecting their most valuable asset, the workforce.
According to CNN, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a letter to employees explaining they could continue working from home until June 30, 2021. Pichai explains that the decision was made to give employees enough leeway to prepare for the future. The announcement also put the emphasis on the extension's ability to help employees take better care of themselves and their loved ones through a more flexible work schedule. While the Google CEO confirmed that the work-from-home extension applies to all of its international workforce, it is specific to those roles that don't necessarily require a physical presence in the office.
Google is just one of the many tech companies offering a work-from-home option to employees encumbered by the pandemic. Like Google, Spotify is also extending its employees' work-from-home privileges to as far as 2021. Although not all tech companies are as lenient in their respective remote-work infrastructures, as some actually require the physical presence of its workforce to be able to operate efficiently. In fact, companies like Apple and Amazon, have already started letting employees work onsite.
Of course, just because some companies are going back to a physical location doesn't mean other tech companies are as eager to do the same. Facebook and Twitter have both even gone as far as considering remote-work as a permanent solution, due to its advantage in increasing the workforce without physical limitations, all while lessening pollution and traffic in the process. That said, only time will tell if Google's work-from-home extension leads to a permanent solution, similar to Facebook and Twitter.
Source: CNN
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