Google Will Let Employees Work From Home Until The End Of 2020

Google will allow employees to work from home until the end of 2020, following similar announcements from other major tech companies earlier this week.

If local guidelines allow it, the company will start opening offices globally in June for some employees, but the bulk of the tech giant’s workforce will likely work from home until the end of the year, Google confirmed.

The announcement comes after Facebook said Thursday employees will be able to choose to work from home until the end of 2020.

Amazon and Slack made similar announcements in recent weeks, telling their employees to work from home through October and September respectively, indicating that regular office work may not return to normal for many until after the summer.

Tech companies in Silicon Valley and Seattle were among the first to mandate their employees work from home, even before local officials issued shelter-in-place orders. Public health experts say these actions likely contributed to the success of social distancing early on and may have prevented the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle from experiencing more severe outbreaks.