The work-from-home privileges of several Google employees are under danger as the company seeks to introduce a strict hybrid work model. The employees who wouldn’t comply with the new model, which requires them to show up to the nearest Google office three times a week, risk losing their jobs, according to a report by CNBC.
Certain employees of individual units and departments within Google have been asked to return to office thrice a week, some of whom were approved for work from home earlier, according to some internal documents accessed by CNBC.
The trend of moving away from remote working within several tech companies, who were among the firsts to jump to it when Covid hit back in 2020, comes amid the rise of artificial intelligence.
Some full-time Google employees in the US were offered voluntary buyouts earlier this year, and some remote workers were presented with a similar choice if they didn’t return to a hybrid work model, the report said.
Google’s trend of cutting costs began in 2023 with mass layoffs and continues and the company shifts focus to its artificial intelligence ventures.
{{/usCountry}}Google’s trend of cutting costs began in 2023 with mass layoffs and continues and the company shifts focus to its artificial intelligence ventures.
{{/usCountry}}AI workers at Google were told in February this year that they should be present in the office every weekday and described 60 hours a week as “the sweet spot of productivity,” in order to keep up with the competition, CNBC report said, citing a memo.
‘Not companywide policy’
The demand to return to office from fully remote work structure is being made by individual teams according to their needs and is not a companywide policy, said Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini.
“As we’ve said before, in-person collaboration is an important part of how we innovate and solve complex problems…To support this, some teams have asked remote employees that live near an office to return to in-person work three days a week,” CNBC quoted Mencini as saying.
Some teams which have asked their employees to return to work include Google Technical Services and the company’s Human Resources department, which the company calls People Operations.
For Google Technical Services employees, who have been working remotely, an offer lies on the table of one-time paid relocation within 50 miles of a Google office, the report said.
Similarly, Google’s People Operations department has given its employees who live within 50 miles of an office this month’s time to start showing up to the office thrice a week or risk losing their jobs, according to an internal memo accessed by CNBC. However, according to Mencini, they have to return by June. The employees who stay farther away can keep working remotely but that might hamper their growth as they’ll need to switch to the hybrid mode in order to get new roles at the company.