Enlarge / People exit a Google office building in Taipei, Taiwan on January 29, 2021.
Ceng Shou Yi/NurPhoto
Google is a company that was once famous for its quirky, comfy office space. Even in the home office age, Google wants its employees to use its offices. The latest Wall Street Journal news details how Google is urging its employees to return to the office, which includes including in-person office visits in employee performance reviews. Apparently, working from home is not rated as positively as working from the office.
The report cites an employee-wide email from Fiona Cicconi, Google’s chief people officer, in which she justified the move: “We’ve heard from Google employees that those who spend at least three days a week in the office are more involved feel connected to other Google employees, and that.” This effect is amplified when teammates work in the same place. Of course, not everyone believes in “magic hallway conversations,” but there’s no question that working together in the same room makes a positive difference.”
Google currently has a “hybrid work” policy, where employees are expected to come into the office at least three workdays per week. According to the report, employees who are “frequently absent” will receive reminders to be in the office.
Some divisions at Google have tried to cope with their abandoned office space by downsizing their workspaces and forcing employees to share their desks. Google had also planned to build a “mega-campus” in downtown San Jose, California, which would have added 7.3 million square feet to Google’s office space, but that project was recently “put on hold.” Google began demolition work on the project in 2021 – long after the work-from-home trend took over the world – but put the work on hold in April of this year.