Google is reportedly planning to implement work from home for its employees until July 2021 in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. According to a report of The Wall Street Journal, Google and its parent company, Alphabet, have decided to extend their remote work arrangement into next summer.
In an email to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, on Monday wrote: ‘To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voulnatry work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don’t need to be in the office.”
Prevoiusly, the company had announced that workers would return to offices by January 2021.
The arrangement will impact roughly 200,000 full-time and contract employees, the report said. The plan has been accomodated for the safety of employees with families, particularly those with young children that may need homeschooling.
As per the report of the War Street Journal, Pichai has come to the conslusion after discussing plans with an internal group of top executives.
However, the company has already reopened 42 offices around the world, including smaller offices in countries less effected by the pandemic such as Australia, Greece and Thailand, CNN reported.
Google was one of the first large companies to reccomend work from home in early March to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, back in May, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, made headlines for announcing work from home “forever” while mentioning that this option is not suitable for everyone. Dorsey said that he’s leaving the decision in the hands of its employees. “When we do decide to open offices, it also won’t be a snap back to the way it was before. It will be careful, intentional, office by office and gradual,” he had said.
Other major companies including Amazon and Apple have asked their workers to continue work from home until January 2021.
