Google extending remote work policy through July 2021

Google will keep its employees at home until next July at least, a spokesperson for the search giant confirmed to The Hill Monday.

“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,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a memo to employees.

The extension of the company’s existing remote work policy will apply to roughly 200,000 full-time and contract employees at Google and its parent company Alphabet, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the extension.

Google had previously told employees to return to offices at the beginning of January.

Silicon Valley companies were some of the first to send white-collar workers home in March when the coronavirus pandemic began spreading in the U.S. The companies are now again leading the way in extending remote work.

Amazon earlier this week extended its work-from-home policy through January 2021. The company’s warehouse workers, several of which have died of COVID-19, are not included in the extension.