As Google prepares to convey staff again to its places of work, the corporate is stress-free a few of its Covid-19 office insurance policies, together with a rule requiring U.S. workers to be vaccinated. However staff will nonetheless must be vaccinated in the event that they plan to make use of the corporate’s places of work.
In an electronic mail to San Francisco Bay Space workers final week, Google mentioned it was easing a few of its pandemic restrictions. It’ll now not require workers to be examined weekly to enter its U.S. places of work. Additionally, it won’t require workers to put on masks within the workplace, aside from Santa Clara County — dwelling to Google’s principal Mountain View headquarters.
Google additionally mentioned it deliberate to revive lots of its famed workplace facilities, reminiscent of health facilities, cafeterias, therapeutic massage companies and commuter shuttles. CNBC reported the change in insurance policies earlier.
“Primarily based on present circumstances within the Bay Space, we’re happy that our workers who select to return in now have the flexibility to entry extra on-site areas and companies,” Google wrote in an announcement.
Individually, the corporate has dropped its requirement that U.S. workers present proof of vaccination standing or apply for a medical or spiritual exemption, Lora Lee Erickson, a Google spokeswoman, mentioned.
Final 12 months, Google mentioned workers who failed to take action could be positioned on administrative go away and could possibly be fired ultimately. Ms. Erickson didn’t clarify why the corporate had modified its place.
Like many firms, Google has needed to adapt its insurance policies to the regularly altering circumstances of the pandemic. It has repeatedly pushed again plans for when it can ask workers to begin engaged on a hybrid schedule that mixes distant work and in-office time.
Google’s places of work are a key element to its work tradition, and the corporate has resisted going absolutely distant like different know-how firms.
As a substitute of a world mandate, Google has repeatedly mentioned it can enable totally different areas to find out when to begin requiring staff to return in a couple of instances every week. In the USA, Google mentioned, it’s nonetheless assessing the fitting time to start its hybrid work schedule and hasn’t set a date for staff to return to the workplace.
Whereas returning to the workplace remains to be voluntary, Google mentioned about 30 p.c of its Bay Space workers got here into the workplace final week.
