File – The Google headquarters is located in Mountain View, Calif.
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With coronavirus cases beginning to wane and mask mandates lifting, a major Silicon Valley-based tech company gave a date for when employees need to return to the office.
Google told employees Wednesday that its voluntary-work-from-home period, which has been in place for two years ago, will end April 4, a company spokesperson told SFGATE.
Employees in the San Francisco Bay Area and some of its other offices in the U.S., U.K. and Asia Pacific will be required to come to work in person three times a week. Employees can have two days of remote work.
“We plan to use the month of March to help employees transition to their new routines and then aim to be fully functional in our hybrid working approach by April 4,” Google said.
Employees entering physical work spaces are required to be vaccinated “because it’s one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe and keep our services running,” Google said.
Unvaccinated employees with approved accommodations to be onsite will be required to follow specific protocols, including testing regularly and wearing a mask.
The company said last year that it would introduce a hybrid model when it asked employees to return in person.
“I do think people get a better balance in a three/two model,” CEO Sundar Pichai, said at The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live conference in October, Business Insider reported.
An email sent to employees in the San Francisco Bay Area said “advances in prevention and treatment, the steady decline in cases we continue to see and the improved safety measures we have implemented … now mean we can officially begin the transition to the hybrid work week,” Reuters reported.
The email from John Casey, Google’s vice president of global benefits, said amenities such as cafes, restaurants, massages and shuttles are reopening at Google offices.
Google was one of the first tech companies to send its employees home and the two-year period of remote work led many people to move their homes. More than 14,000 Google workers transferred to a new location or went fully remote during the pandemic, with 85% of applications approved, a company spokesperson said.
Last months, Salesforce announced it would lure employees away from Zoom and back to in-person meetings at a new new campus in the the Santa Cruz Mountains. Trailblazer Ranch in Scotts Valley is opening in March for onboarding, trainings, skills building, talent development and generally to connect with colleagues in person.
SF-based Twitter has said their work-from-home policies will continue indefinitely.
