Google to give $1,000 to employees for work-from-home office needs

The Google logo is seen at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California on Sept. 2, 2011. Image: AFP/Kimihiro Hoshino via AFP Relaxnews

Google employees will receive an allowance to set up their office at home as remote work arrangements continue in companies around the world.

“Because we still expect that most Googlers will be largely working from home for the rest of this year, we’ll be giving each Googler an allowance of $1,000 (about P50,300), or the equivalent value in your country, to expense necessary equipment and office furniture,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees on May 26. The email was shared on the company’s blog.

Pichai stated that a “limited number of Googlers” had to be in the office, but everyone else is encouraged to work from home.

He announced that Google will begin opening offices by July 6, though employees will take turns in coming in every few weeks so that building occupancy will be at “roughly 10%.”

“We’ll have rigorous health and safety measures in place to ensure social distancing and sanitization guidelines are followed, so the office will look and feel different than when you left,” he said.

Tech giants like Google and Facebook told employees in May to work from home until the end of the year in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Twitter, meanwhile, said it will move to allow employees to work remotely “forever.” JB

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Initially published on June 1, 2020. Updated on August 19, 2023.