Google is letting its employees work from home for at least another year — a sign that the technology industry is expecting disruption from the coronavirus pandemic to linger for a long time.
The company had expected most employees to return to the office by the end of this year and has reopened some offices around the world.
Now, CEO Sundar Pichai has told staff by email: “To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don’t need to be in the office.”
Google has 123,000 full-time employees and another 122,000 temporary, vendor and contract workers, according to worker organizers.
When the coronavirus first hit the U.S. this year, tech companies were among the first employers to move to remote work and to cancel big events. Now, several months into the pandemic, some companies are rethinking the way they work over the long term.
For example, Facebook, Twitter and Square have all said that some employees will be able to work remotely on a permanent basis
