Google delays return to office, eyes flexible work week

OAKLAND (California) • With the Covid-19 pandemic still in full swing and the first doses of a vaccine just starting to ship in the United States, Google has pushed back the planned return to the office by a few months, to September next year.

But even as it extends the remote work period, Google is laying out a series of proposed changes that may substantially alter how its employees and people at other technology companies will work.

In an e-mail to employees on Sunday, Mr Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google's parent company Alphabet, said the company was testing the idea of a "flexible work week" once it is safe to return to the office. Under the pilot plan, employees would be in the office at least three days a week for "collaboration days", and work from home the other days.

"We are testing a hypothesis that a flexible work model will lead to greater productivity, collaboration and well-being," Mr Pichai wrote in the e-mail obtained by The New York Times. "No company at our scale has ever created a fully hybrid workforce model - though a few are starting to test it - so it will be interesting to try."

One thing not mentioned by Mr Pichai is whether Google will require employees to take the coronavirus vaccine before returning to the office. Google has said it recommends that employees obtain the vaccine when their healthcare provider or local public health authority has told them it is available to them. Google has also said it is looking for opportunities in mid-to-late 2021 to help make Covid-19 vaccines available to its workers, but only after high-risk and high-priority people globally have received the vaccines.

The timing of Google's plan to roll out the flexible work schedules is still up in the air because of the different state of the coronavirus in different countries. And the new schedules may not apply to some Google workers, like those who spend lots of time with customers or employees at its data centres or labs.

In March, Google was one of the first companies to tell employees to start working from home before other corporations had a grasp on the risks of working together in enclosed offices. It has repeatedly delayed the timing on when it expects employees to return to the office from next January to July and now, September.

After such a long period of remote work, companies are wrestling with how best to transition workers back into offices.

Last month, ViacomCBS told employees that it expects most of them to divide their time between working at home and in its offices. It said a hybrid model would allow more flexibility for employees, while reducing its real estate needs and keeping costs down.

Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings has said he has not seen "any positives" from working at home and that not being able to get together to discuss ideas in person is a "pure negative". However, he said he expected the five-day work week would become four days in the office and one day remote after the pandemic.

NYTIMES