Google staff have been told to come back to the office after the pandemic ends in a sign that major employers are losing faith in remote working.

The company has asked workers in the United States to consider returning voluntarily within weeks. Its 4,400 staff in London will be expected to do the same, depending on how government restrictions are lifted, and other cities will follow, depending on local rules.

Google now wants its 200,000 global employees back at their desks for an initial minimum of three days a week by Sept 1.

In future, they will have to seek formal permission if they want to work remotely for more than 14 consecutive days a year. In an email to workers, Fiona Cicconi, the head of people operations, said “the thought of returning to the office might inspire different emotions” and that workspaces “won’t look exactly the way you remember them”, but meals will be provided “where possible”.

Employees’ dogs – which the company insists on calling “Dooglers” – will also be welcomed back. The move comes after Ruth Porat, Google’s finance chief, said in November that the company had no plans to open its offices sooner than June because “working from home is working”.

Google is advising employees to get vaccinated but said this will not be mandatory.

It comes amid growing debate in big business about whether the traditional office is still needed after millions of people worked from their spare rooms without major disruption.

Earlier this week, PwC told its staff they would be free to split their time between the workplace and home in future and major banks such as Lloyds and HSBC have slashed office space.

By contrast, David Solomon, the Goldman Sachs boss, dismissed home-working as an “aberration” and said he wanted his staff back in.

Amazon, another of the world’s largest employers, told its white-collar workers this week that they would be back at their desks after the summer, having said they could work from home until July.

– The Daily Telegraph

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