Google extends its work-from-home policy for employees until summer 2021

More tech companies will likely follow suit.

What you need to know

• Google has decided to allow its employees to continue working from home until summer 2021.
• The move will affect nearly all of Google's 200,000 employees and contractors.
• Google had previously planned to ask its employees to return to offices from January 2021.

Google today announced that it is extending its work-from-home option for employees through July 2021 as the coronavirus pandemic continues on. Like Amazon and Facebook, Google had previously asked its workers to return to the office in January next year.

In an email sent to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said:

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. I hope this will offer the flexibility you need to balance work with taking care of yourselves and your loved ones over the next 12 months.

The news comes as the pandemic contiues to surge across the United States. More than 4.2 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in the country so far, with 146,900 deaths.

As noted by the Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report the news, the move will affect pretty much all of Google's roughly 200,000 full-time and contract employees. The extended timeline will apply to employees not just in North America, but also other offices in India, Brazil, and the UK. However, in countries such as Australia and Greece, which remain largely unaffected by the pandemic, Google has started partially opening its offices.

Google's move is likely to put pressure on other tech giants to announce similar work-from-home extensions.

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