Employees at Google will be required to return to work starting April 4. As per this latest mandate, Googlers will have to work from office about thrice a week across some of its offices in the US, UK and Asia Pacific. The number of ‘in-office’ days will differ from team to team as per the work requirements.
Googlers in the San Francisco Bay Area have already been officially informed of the decision to move to the hybrid work week. The employees who are not ready to return to work just yet, will have to seek a formal extension of remote working.
In the last eight odd months, about 14,000 Googlers, globally, have sought to get transferred to new locations or have opted for 100 per cent full remote working. Only about 15 per cent have been refused the request. That means, about 85 per cent employees have been granted their request for transfer or permanent remote working.
It is a must for employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or carry a document that explains their exemption, if any, before returning to office.
Those Googlers who are unvaccinated and do not have an exemption document to support their status will either have to obtain a formal approved exemption or apply for permanent remote work.
Employees who are fully vaccinated may unmask in the offices in the Bay Area. Formal ‘return to office’ mandates have yet to be issued by Google for its offices in other locations.