Google on Monday said it would soon allow most employees to work from home until June next year amid the uncertainty around how the coronavirus crisis will evolve, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move is likely to affect most of the 2,00,000 full-time and contract employees across Google and parent Alphabet Inc, including in India.
The decision was made by Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai last week after debate among Google Leads, an internal group of top executives that he chairs, an unidentified official told the newspaper. A small number of Google staffers were notified later in the week.
“To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voluntary work from home option through 30 June, 2021, for roles that don’t need to be in the office,” Pichai said in an email, according to The Mint.
The extended timeline applies to company employees in most of its major offices, including the headquarters of Mountain View, California and other offices in the United States, United Kingdom, India, Brazil and elsewhere. Until now, Google had told its employees to expect a return to the office beginning in January.
India – where the company is estimated to have about 5,000 employees – is a key market for Google which has a major presence in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Pichai recently launched the Google for India Digitization Fund with a commitment of investing Rs 75,000 crore in the next five to seven years towards digitising the Indian economy.
Also read:
Coronavirus: How Indian companies can help employees working from home
Severfal tech companies recently extended work-from-home policies as the coronavirus outbreak forces unprecedented changes in work culture across the world. Facebook extended their work-from-home policies into 2021, while Amazon has extended it until at least early October.
In May, Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg told workers during a staff meeting that within a decade, as many as half of the company’s more than 48,000 employees would work from home. Zuckerberg’s announcement followed similar decision at Twitter, as the social media company announced it will allow employees who can work from home to do so “forever”.
The global coronavirus count has now gone up to 1.61 crore while the toll has crossed 6.47 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 93 lakh people have recovered as of Monday.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!