Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai has communicated to his staff with an aim to encourage return in the office in an arrangement where they will work for three days a week in the office and two days in a remote location as lockdowns ease.
The company begun to open their office spaces in April this year. Details of the said reopening have been laid down basing on the new hybrid working week.
When the pandemic struck, Google was one of the first companies to offer a working from home option.
The company had earlier asked their staff to apply if they wanted to work from a remote location other than their home for more than two weeks which has now been extended to a period of four weeks.
An email originating from Sundar Pichai revealed the benefits of office working. He said for more than 20 years, our employees have been coming to the office to solve interesting problems-in a café, around a whiteboard, or during a pick- up game of beach volleyball or cricket.
He added that in locations where offices had already opened, nearly 60% of their employees were choosing to come back.
He said that he envisaged a workforce where 60% were office based,20% were in new office locations and 20% working from home.
He explained that in terms of numbers of days in each location, teams would come together approximately three days in a week, and work wherever suits them best, for two days.
The email that was revealed to BBC also stated that some teams though would need to be on site more than three days a week due to the nature of work.
The CEO also advised those employees living in countries like India and Brazil to focus on taking care of themselves and their loved ones and that the company will be there to support where they can.
A study done by PWC, a US based research firm into attitudes about remote work shows US executives and employees converging around a post pandemic future with a lot more flexibility, yet few are prepared to completely abandon the office space.
