This development has put Google at par with other major companies like Facebook, Twitter and Square who all announces that they would continue with the remote-work or work-from home setup currently being implemented, until the foreseeable future.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Square and Twitter; Jack Dorsey made it known that he is even open to letting his employees work from home forever.
The announcement which was made in May 2020, added that since he understands this option is not suitable for everyone, he will be leaving the decision to either work at the office or from home, in the hands of his employees. Jack Dorsey stated that, “When we do decide to open offices, it also won’t be a snap back to the way it was before. It will be careful, intentional, office by office and gradual.”
Mark Zuckerberg also announced that he will also be allowing his employees to work remotely. The catch however, is that all employees have to tell their boss if they intend to relocate or move. The Facebook CEO added that anyone who moved to a more affordable city “may have their compensation adjusted based on their new locations.” He stated that “We’ll adjust salary to your location at that point. There’ll be severe ramifications for people who are not honest about this.”
The decision from Google is huge because it is going to be implemented on its workforce of about 200,000 employees. Its policy as well as similar policies of other major companies, is expected to motivate other companies who may still be undecided about resuming standard office setups or maintaining current work from home setups, to choose the latter.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Google; Sundar Pichai in an email to his employees 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.”
Reports claim that Sundar Pichi made the decision unilaterally after internal conversations and debates. The CEO saw the struggles faced by working families especially those who have younger children who would need homeschooling and empathized.
He believes continuing the work from home arrangement, will ease up some of the challenges.
Multinational conglomerate company based in Germany; Siemens, also announced that 140,000 of its employees can work from wherever they want for two (2) or three (3) days a week. The decision by Siemens which is also Europe’s largest manufacturing company, is as a result of a Global Staff Survey which revealed that employees desire greater flexibility which regards to their work.
JPMorgan, Upwork, PayPal, Amazon, Box, Zillow, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Shopify, Capital One, Coinbase, are some of the various major companies who have announced that they will also be extending their work from home operations. Some companies are expected to make their work from home operations permanent.
These developments are also expected to affect the job hunting sector, as sooner rather than later where an applicant lives, will no longer be an issue or determinant. Companies will now be able to choose the most suitable employees and not have to worry about whether or not said employees live close to the office premises.
Job applicants will also not have to worry about only applying for jobs that are close to their residence. They will now be able to choose from a much wider array of available jobs.
Individuals who were forced to move the residences because they were closer to their places of work, can now relocate to more affordable areas without the fear of losing their jobs or sources of livelihood.
