GOOGLE TO MOVE TO HYBRID WORK WEEK, SAYS CEO SUNDAR PICHAI
NEW DELHI: Google will move to a hybrid work week, where most Googlers spend approximately three days in the office and two days “wherever they work best”, according to a note by Google and Alphabet chief executive officer Sundar Pichai.
About 20% of Google’s workforce will continue to work remotely after its offices reopen later this year, while about 60% Googlers will come together in the office for a few days a week, Pichai said.
“Since in-office time will be focused on collaboration, your product areas and functions will help decide which days teams will come together in the office. There will also be roles that may need to be on site more than three days a week due to the nature of the work,” he added.
The India-born executive also noted that the company will offer opportunities for employees to apply for completely remote work (away from team or office) based on their role and team needs.
Google has 139,995 full-time employees worldwide. While Google doesn’t disclose countryspecific headcount, the company is estimated to have over 4,000 people in India.
Google has been investing in India as a strategic hub for its global product development. It has been expanding its employee base across product areas like Search, Cloud, Payments, AI research and has presence in four cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Gurugram. “Before the pandemic, we had thousands of people working in locations separate from their core teams. I fully expect those numbers to increase in the coming months as we develop more remote roles, including fully all-remote sub teams...
“Taken together these changes will result in a workforce where around 60% of Googlers are coming together in the office a few days a week, another 20% are working in new office locations, and 20% are working from home,” he said.