Google gives workers Rs 75K each, to reopen offices from July 6 (Ld)

San Francisco, May 27 (IANS) Google has set July 6 the date for its employees to return to office in a gradual, phased manner and has announced to give $1,000 (around Rs 75,000) to each of its workers globally for expenses on necessary equipment and office furniture as they work from home.

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company will restart opening more buildings in more cities from July 6.

"This will give Googlers who need to come back to the officeeor, capacity permitting, who want to come backethe opportunity to return on a limited, rotating basis (think: one day every couple of weeks, so roughly 10 percent building occupancy)," Pichai said in a statement late Tuesday.

According to him, if condition allows, Google will gain 30 per cent office capacity by September by further scaling the rotation programme.

"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, or the equivalent value in your country, to expense necessary equipment and office furniture," Pichai announced.

According to Pichai, there are a limited number of Googlers whose roles are needed back in office this calendar year.

"If this applies to you, your manager will let you know by June 10. For everyone else, returning to the office will be voluntary through the end of the year, and we encourage you to continue to work from home if you can," said Pichai.

Google's original plan was to keep work from home policy until June 1.

While some of Google employees have expressed interest in coming back to the office, others have asked whether it's okay to temporarily relocate to another place to be closer to family while you're working from home.

Pichai said that in this case, they need to review the guidelines which include important information about a number of personal factors such as your tax filings and health coverage/eligibility.

"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," said the Google CEO.

"We are taking slow, deliberate steps to begin re-opening offices in areas where they still remain largely closed. We're also investing more in your work-from-home setup to make sure you have what you need to be productive and comfortable," he added.

--IANS

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