Chennai: Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told employees that they can continue working from home till June 30, 2021 for roles that do not need them to be in office.
“To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voluntary work from home option through 30 June, 2021 for roles that don’t need to be in the office,” Pichai said in an email sent to employees.
Google had in May announced that most of its employees would work from home until the end of the year, having begun advising employees to work from home early in March.
“I know this extended timeline may come with mixed emotions and I want to make sure you’re taking care of yourselves,” wrote Pichai, who is also Alphabet’s CEO, in an email to employees.
The prolonged lockdown of Google’s offices could influence other major employers to take similar precautions, given that the technology industry has been at the forefront of the shift to remote work that has been triggered by the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Facebook too is looking at making work-from-home arrangements a permanent fixture, announcing that half of all its employees worldwide (over 50,000 at present) could work remotely by 2030.