WSJ: Google to Keep Employees Home Until Summer 2021 Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

[spam musubi]

Google to Keep Employees Home Until Summer 2021 Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

The tech giant will keep its employees home until at least next July, making the search-engine giant the first major U.S. corporation to formalize such an extended timetable.

www.wsj.com

AN FRANCISCO—Google will keep its employees home until at least next July, making the search-engine giant the first major U.S. corporation to formalize such an extended timetable in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

The move will affect nearly all of the roughly 200,000 full-time and contract employees across Google parent Alphabet Inc., and is sure to pressure other technology giants that have slated staff to return as soon as January.
Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai made the decision himself last week after debate among Google Leads, an internal group of top executives that he chairs, according to a person familiar with the matter. A small number of Google staffers were notified later in the week, people familiar said.
Mr. Pichai was swayed in part by sympathy for employees with families to plan for uncertain school years that may involve at-home instruction, depending on geography. It also frees staff to sign full-year leases elsewhere if they choose to move.

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[WascallyWabbit]

Sometimes i'm not sure what to take from news like this, it's not like if we figure this thing out they won't just have them back in office.
My company hasn't pushed their original WFH timeline of Labor day but i'm sure it will be happening soon.

 

[demosthenes]

Friend in a healthcare company was just told to stay at home until January 2021.

 

[Mcfrank]

Companies are going to realize they are still getting satisfactory performance out of employees and begin to wonder why they are spending millions a year on office space.

 

[Chanser]

Same with Natwest, nearly 50000 work at home.

 

[ostrichKing]

We've been told we are not going back til 2021 (I work in creative marketing for big box retailer) unless being in the office is essential for our job (and even that has strict restrictions)...

I would be shocked to see if things ever go back to how they were before (and leadership has hinted that many of the new ways of working will stay longterm). WFH has worked better than many anticipated, and the savings companies would gain from having smaller/less office space would be hard to pass up. I'd be shocked to see myself in the office more than a couple times a week.

 

[Damaniel]

My company isn't even going to evaluate the possibility of going back to the office until after Labor Day, and even then I doubt that we'll be back in a physical office any time this year.

On top of that, people I work with are starting to wonder why we need a physical office at all to do what we do. I suspect that after the office is reopened, there will be a lot more flexibility in terms of working from home at least part of the week.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

Companies are going to realize they are still getting satisfactory performance out of employees and begin to wonder why they are spending millions a year on office space.

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Nah, I think there's way too many forces both economic and social pulling people back into the office

Think like how many google employees there are that's job is dependent on the facility (maintenance staff, janitorial, cooks, hardware engineers), you'd have to justify laying all those people off, then you got all these executives whose sole job it is to look impressive and shit and you can't do that as well without a big office and campus to show off to folks. Not to mention you sunk all these costs into it in the first place to build it up.

 

[Mcfrank]

Nah, I think there's way too many forces both economic and social pulling people back into the office

Think like how many google employees there are that's job is dependent on the facility (maintenance staff, janitorial, cooks, hardware engineers), you'd have to justify laying all those people off, then you got all these executives whose sole job it is to look impressive and shit and you can't do that as well without a big office and campus to show off to folks. Not to mention you sunk all these costs into it in the first place to build it up.

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You say that as if companies don't want to lay-off those people? I don't understand, they will lay them off in a second. They would save the cost of those staff and the buildings themselves. I am not saying they will stay 100% remote, but anyone who thinks the corporate world is going back to 90%+ of people working in an office after covid are being silly. There is just too much of an opportunity to save money.

 

[CloseTalker]

Yeah, there's an almost 0% chance I'm back in office in 2020. Fine by me too, working from home fucking rules

 

[Kino]

Less commuting would be great for the environment. Hopefully down the line people will be able to live all over the country and just fly in for meetings instead of having to live in expensive cities.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

You say that as if companies don't want to lay-off those people? I don't understand. They would save the cost of those staff and the buildings themselves. I am not saying they will stay 100% remote, but anyone who thinks the corporate world is going back to 90%+ of people working in an office after covid are being silly. There is just too much of an opportunity to save money.

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Of course they don't want to, if you're making money hand over fist you end up looking shit for doing stuff like this and fucking up your image and possibly the stock price. And like i said, it's not pure economics here, there's alot of social factors here as well as I mentioned. And why would they see "satisfactory" performance as OK when they prob feel like when folks are in the office they get even better results?

 

[Guts Of Thor]

I've been working from home since March and while I didn't like it at first, I've really grown to love it. Since it's been a slow morning, I've been watching Friday the 13th movies lol.

 

[Damaniel]

Yeah, there's an almost 0% chance I'm back in office in 2020. Fine by me too, working from home fucking rules

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It especially works for me because my office is in one of the most parking constrained parts of downtown, and street parking is so limited that I usually have to come into the office at 7:30 and still have to park 6-8 blocks away and hike in. We keep a handful of fleet cars on site for software testing, but that's the only reason we really need any physical space at all to do our work (and even then, those are only regularly used by 2 or 3 people).

 

[Mcfrank]

Of course they don't want to, if you're making money hand over fist you end up looking shit for doing stuff like this and fucking up your image and possibly the stock price. And like i said, it's not pure economics here, there's alot of social factors here as well as I mentioned. And why would they see "satisfactory" performance as OK when they prob feel like when folks are in the office they get even better results?

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You are way off-base IMO. There is almost a 100% chance that most companies already outsource the work you are describing so that they do not have to provide their benefits packages to those employees. They will cut them in a heartbeat and won't even have to say they did since the jobs are outsourced. I don't agree with the morality of it, but it is what is going to happen.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

You are way off-base IMO. There is almost a 100% chance that most companies already outsource the work you are describing so that they do not have to provide their benefits packages to those employees. They will cut them in a heartbeat and won't even have to say they did since the jobs are outsourced. I don't agree with the morality of it, but it is what is going to happen.

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Ok, agree to disagree then. For us grunts sake, I hope you're wrong

 

[Mcfrank]

Ok, agree to disagree then. For us grunts sake, I hope you're wrong

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Just to be clear, I also hope I am wrong.

 

[Razgriz417]

we have no official word yet but my coworkers higher up in HR think we shouldn't expect to return to the office before early next year

 

[Tamanon]

Yeah, my company probably is going to push rest of the year for the US. Not sure if my office in Portugal will start returning this year or not. Maybe a 2 days on, day of cleaning, 2 days off for half the office at a time.

I loathe WFH. But, I'm not raising a stink about it, as I know many other folks at work love it.

 

[TeenageFBI]

Companies are going to realize they are still getting satisfactory performance out of employees and begin to wonder why they are spending millions a year on office space.

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This is definitely happening in my company. There's still a need for a physical presence, just a significantly smaller one.

 

[Lobster Roll]

I'm basically on WFH orders (as are others in my dept.) until I'm vaccinated, no matter how long that takes.

 

[Shokunin]

Just to be clear, I also hope I am wrong.

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Although you put it as delicately as possible, you're not wrong.

 

[dep9000]

My employer has no definitive return to work plan at this point and the CEO has said they are well aware that many of us will never come back into the office. We already had a pretty robust work from home program so for many things won't change anyway. But it will be nice to at least have the option to come into the office. That isn't going to happen this year. They are trying to make offices available for folks that want to come in, but even then you need approval from your manager and they are going to track it so not too many people are ever in the office at any given time. That was initially supposed to happen at the beginning of July but now they're looking at September (will probably be pushed back again).

 

[Septimus Prime]

Nah, I think there's way too many forces both economic and social pulling people back into the office

Think like how many google employees there are that's job is dependent on the facility (maintenance staff, janitorial, cooks, hardware engineers), you'd have to justify laying all those people off, then you got all these executives whose sole job it is to look impressive and shit and you can't do that as well without a big office and campus to show off to folks. Not to mention you sunk all these costs into it in the first place to build it up.

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I think you're also overlooking that many employees want to go back to the office, if for nothing else than at least the amenities.

 

[Deleted member 10629]

After months of peaceful home office work, going back to the office is going to get on my nerves lol

At the company I work for it also has been hinted that a 2020 return isn't likely. And we're still doing an amazing job performance wise so I don't see the rush to go back, honestly.

 

[Br3wnor]

I'm glad private companies are being sensible. As a state government employee I've been back at my office for 2 weeks now, it blows and I really hope I don't get sick as my wife is pregnant but what can you do, I'm still getting paid so all I can do is bitch about it to strangers on the internet, coworkers and my wife

 

[low-G]

I don't get why the tentative cutoff date. My large tech employer has made it indefinite. If we can do it, so can Google.

I think you're also overlooking that many employees want to go back to the office, if for nothing else than at least the amenities.

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I've noticed this desire declining amongst my peers, not sure what it's like in the larger world. But I'd go back rarely for the particularly special amenities were it possible.

You are way off-base IMO. There is almost a 100% chance that most companies already outsource the work you are describing so that they do not have to provide their benefits packages to those employees. They will cut them in a heartbeat and won't even have to say they did since the jobs are outsourced. I don't agree with the morality of it, but it is what is going to happen.

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To an extent in the short term they don't have a choice but to outsource the amenities when reopening the office even a bit.


The whole office thing is a means of the illusion of control for management. It's a powerful illusion, so I do expect some employers would like people back in the office, watching YouTube on the corporate network rather than their home one.

 

[Superpupperbabysassy]

My wife works at Facebook. They are probably going to follow suit. Working from home is really getting to her. Our dog passed in March and she had to work from hone the entire time.

 

[DarkSora]

Lines up with my company as well. We won't be going back until 2021 at least.

 

[johnsmith]

My company's headquarters is in Maine, which barely has any cases, but they've already told us we're working from home through the rest of the year. They have offices all around the country though, with the worst hit place probably Tennessee.

 

[Viewt]

My office is specifically telling folks to stay home unless it's absolutely necessary to be in-office, which is super rare. This is planned to continue for the remainder of 2020. They're going to reassess in the new year, but we've already been told that, anyone is welcome to transition to being fully remote in perpetuity. Which is nice. Once this is all over (Sprint 2021? I hope!), my wife and I are planning on doing some traveling, working during the day, and exploring on nights and weekends.

 

[SwampBastard]

I found out last week that we are not going back to the office until January at the earliest. I'll be surprised if we're back before the spring. I still have to pop in once every week or two to sign checks and whatnot.

 

[zulux21]

I'm glad private companies are being sensible. As a state government employee I've been back at my office for 2 weeks now, it blows and I really hope I don't get sick as my wife is pregnant but what can you do, I'm still getting paid so all I can do is bitch about it to strangers on the internet, coworkers and my wife

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Not all of them are. I can't go into details, as they are actively punishing anyone who is speaking out against the idea of going back to the office, but if nothing changes, even though the job can be done completely from home, the workers will be required back soon as cases continue to rise. This isn't some small company, but one worth billions.

 

[thermopyle]

While I've enjoyed the past 4 months exclusively WFH, I'm a little torn. I don't miss the commute but having the office to go to as something of a forced border between "work life" and "home life" is somewhat appealing. My days have just been blurred into this one blob of workhomeworkhomeworkhome.

 

[zulux21]

While I've enjoyed the past 4 months exclusively WFH, I'm a little torn. I don't miss the commute but having the office to go to as something of a forced border between "work life" and "home life" is somewhat appealing. My days have just been blurred into this one blob of workhomeworkhomeworkhome.

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I can get that. I fortunately had an extra room we could turn into a makeshift office for my SO, so while they are still missing some of their routine, there is at least a room they don't go into aside from work which helps give them a feeling of coming home still.

I'm personally working a retail job, which constantly just fills me with hate because of how horrible people are in general :/

Really wish all of these companies would just say they aren't returning to the office until there is a proper treatment/vaccine.

Hell some of the tech companies like google/facebook/twitter, really should just make a section of perm work from home employees to entice talented people to their company without requiring them to move to places where rent is 3k+

 

[Invisible Cities]

Yeah I'm not going back "for the foreseeable future" which probably means mid-2021 as well.

It's the right decision, since this could last for a long time and there's no guarantee we'll get a vaccine this year, but's its extremely draining on some people especially parents.

 

[Johnny956]

Yea my company told us we won't be going back in 2020 at minimum but they'll just reevaluate after 2020 really so who knows

 

[PlatypusDude]

Right now my company pushed back its Labor Day at earliest timeline till 2021 for most employees. They might try to bring back call center folks in one or two locations earlier, but my position is almost certainly not until next year and this just makes me think it will be part way at earliest.

 

[Jogi]

My company is pushing for us to be back in the office by next week. It's fucking dumb. I hope they realize cases are soaring where I am (SoCal), and it makes little sense to force us back in. Nothing from a workflow standpoint has been impacted outside of hearing kids and pets on calls.

 

[Sensei]

Companies are going to realize they are still getting satisfactory performance out of employees and begin to wonder why they are spending millions a year on office space.

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yeah, if they need to have a meeting about something specific in person, the boss will pay for a restaurant somewhere and they'll talk about it over dinner, or pay for conference space at a hotel. that's gonna save them tons of cash.

 

[Grym]

Kinda the same outlook here. Corporate says work from home situation to be re-evaluated in January 2021. No change until then at earliest

 

[Darryl M R]

WFH until 2022.

 

[pants]

I'm in tech, and assume we'll be aligned with whatever Google is doing.

The worst part of all of this is trying to figure out when the best time to change jobs is, for those of us who'd like to move soon but also like to minimize risk. I don't want to stay at my current company but I will if I have to :/

 

[RoadDogg]

I am home until March 2021 so far, but that is partially driven by the fact that we were in the middle of an office move anyway so they decided to just wait for the new building to be done.

 

[ThatMeanScene]

I work for a large insurance corp and we've been home since March but the company did partially open offices - by rotating employees and sending back only employees who identified as non-high risk - in early June after Trump spent May saying everything should open. That opening only lasted for about a week and a half before it was obvious states like Texas and Florida (where' I'm at) were worsening. I expect that they will try to be slick and try opening again as soon as things improve.

 

[Kernel]

Companies are going to realize they are still getting satisfactory performance out of employees and begin to wonder why they are spending millions a year on office space.

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And people who work in corporate real estate are going to wonder about looking for a new line of work.

 

[BAD]

I can get that. I fortunately had an extra room we could turn into a makeshift office for my SO, so while they are still missing some of their routine, there is at least a room they don't go into aside from work which helps give them a feeling of coming home still.

I'm personally working a retail job, which constantly just fills me with hate because of how horrible people are in general :/

Really wish all of these companies would just say they aren't returning to the office until there is a proper treatment/vaccine.

Hell some of the tech companies like google/facebook/twitter, really should just make a section of perm work from home employees to entice talented people to their company without requiring them to move to places where rent is 3k+

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Twitter already said in May that they are making remote a permanent option for their employees even when the pandemic ends. Surprised me that it hasn't been mentioned in here as far as I can see.

 

[JohnsonUT]

In 3-4 years, some executive with no good ideas will come up with the "brilliant" plan that working in an office is great and promises vague metrics like "increased collaboration" and better ideas. And everyone who is used to working from home will hate that person.

 

[Septimus Prime]

EA pretty much follows what the other tech companies around here do, so I wouldn't be surprised if we, too, aren't going back til summer. Right now we are for sure staying wfh for at least the rest of the year anyway, and they're talking about making wfh a permanent thing in the future for those who want it.

I've noticed this desire declining amongst my peers, not sure what it's like in the larger world. But I'd go back rarely for the particularly special amenities were it possible.

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I think there are a lot of ways it's easier to work from the office, like having dedicated space, easy access to teammates, fewer non-work distractions, etc. Perks would come on top of that, and I understand Google has some sweet ones.

 

[TheGhost]

Alot of offices realizing you don't need an office to get the work done.