Google will allow some employees to work from home more than three days a week and relocate offices if they wish, in a reversal of its previous plan to require most to be in the office three days a week and return to their original location, according to a memo from Sundar Pichai sent to all employees today.
The company will now allow all workers to spend up to a month working remotely from any location. About 60% of all workers will likely work in the office a few days a week, around 20% may relocate to other offices, and another fifth may apply to work remotely permanently.
Google's previous rules were the strictest among those announced by major tech companies, most of whom had embraced more flexible remote work and relocation policies (like Facebook). Many medium-sized companies have also embraced remote-first workplace policies, including Dropbox and Reddit.