Google and Facebook join Amazon and Microsoft in allowing their employees to work from home for the foreseeable (where feasible). Last week Amazon announced its plans to let HQ staff work from home until “at least October 2nd,” while Microsoft said two days ago that staff had the option of working remotely until the end of October.
Google employees will be working remotely through the remainder of 2020. This announcement came from Google CEO Sundar Pichai during an “all hands” meeting yesterday, according to a report from The Information.
This move will likely have a significant impact on Google’s operations over time, but it’s certainly the appropriate path forward. Given how many people Google employs, one could argue that the company has an inherent responsibility to play a role in curbing the spread of Covid-19.
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, working from home has become the new normal for millions of people across the globe. Thanks to the prompt actions of remote work software companies, this transition has been fairly smooth for most, suggesting that when lockdowns end and the world returns to some semblance of normality, the concept of a nine to five workday in a central office could well be a thing of the past.
