Google said on Monday it will extend its coronavirus work from home order to through June 2021.
“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 said in an email to employees. Google had originally said employees should expect to return to the office in January 2021.
The change will affect “nearly all” of Google’s 200,000 employees, including contractors and full-time workers, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.
Most tech companies have announced that the bulk of employees can work from home until the end of 2020, or haven’t finalized a timeline. Amazon and Apple have asked that workers return in January. Twitter has allowed employees to work from home “forever” if they wish.
Facebook, like Google, is taking a more long-term approach to how and when employees return to work. In May, CEO Zuckerberg said Facebook will start allowing many of its 50,000 employees to begin working from home on a permanent basis. Within the next five to ten years, Zuckerberg said he expects about 50% of Facebook’s workforce to to work remotely.
As of Monday, the United States has reported more than 4.2 million coronavirus cases, with at least 146,900 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.