With the reduction of COVID and high levels of vaccination in the Gulf region, Google will stop allowing most employees to do their work remotely and will start forcing workers to a three-day office routine this month, the company said Wednesday.
The mandate follows four stalled attempts by digital advertising giant Mountain View to resume office work amid changing threats from the coronavirus pandemic and changing public health contracts. Most recently, Google announced plans in December to end voluntary remote work on January 10, but amid the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant, it postponed the return to the office indefinitely.
Google Bay Area offices are among the company’s chosen locations in the United States, where the new “hybrid” model will be imposed, mixing remote and office work, the company announced on Wednesday. Google has about 45,000 employees in the region, a spokesman said.
Employees can spend March adapting to the new workplace scheme, and the company expects the hybrid model to be fully operational on April 4, Google said in a press release.
To enter offices, workers will need to be vaccinated against COVID or, if not vaccinated, must work under company-approved restrictions, including camouflage and regular COVID testing, Google said.
Fifteen-minute consulting sessions will be available for workers who need help adapting to the new model, the company said.
Workers can apply for a location transfer or a full-time job, Google said, adding that it has approved about 85% of such requests from employees worldwide since June, with about 14,000 workers approved.
Google’s move comes after health officials in the Gulf region drastically eased restrictions based on COVID, with Santa Clara County on Wednesday joining other counties in the region in lifting its indoor mask mandate.
The company’s decision to bring back office workers shows that despite the popularity of remote employment among many tech workers and the Bay Area Council’s conclusion that 45% of Bay Area jobs can be done remotely, Google is committed to working in offices . The company is expanding into the Gulf area, where it plans an 80-acre complex in San Jose that will mix 7.3 million square feet of offices, 4,000 housing units and 500,000 square feet of retail space. In December, Santa Clara County documents showed that Google paid $ 73.5 million in cash for a building in Mountain View across the street from Googleplex headquarters.