Google employees may continue working from home until January, CEO Sundar Pichai announced this week.
In an internal email to workers (also published on Google's blog), Pichai revealed plans to extend the firm's global voluntary return-to-office policy through Jan. 10, 2022, "to give more Googlers flexibility and choice as they ramp back."
Staff were originally expected to work from home until July 2021—even before the Delta variant caused a spike in COVID cases. That date was recently extended to October, before the latest delay.
"For some locations, conditions are starting to improve, yet in many parts of the world the pandemic continues to create uncertainty," Pichai wrote. "Acknowledging that, we'll extend our global voluntary return-to-office policy through Jan. 10, 2022, to give more Googlers flexibility and choice as they ramp back.
"Beyond Jan. 10, we will enable countries and locations to make determinations on when to end voluntary work-from-home based on local conditions, which vary greatly across our offices," the email continued. "To make sure everyone has ample time to plan, you'll have a 30-day heads-up before you're expected back in the office."
Earlier this summer, Pichai warned employees that "anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated." Rolling out first in the US, implementation of the policy varies according to local regulations and vaccine availability; there are exceptions for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other protected reasons.
"The road ahead may be longer and bumpier than we hoped, yet I remain optimistic that we will get through it together," the CEO said. "It's heartening to see Googlers starting to come back to more offices globally. The ability to reconnect in person has been re-energizing for many of us, and will make us even more effective in the weeks and months ahead."