Google to crack down on employees not following hybrid policy to work from office

Google is planning to ‘crack down’ on employees not following to its directive of working from the office at least thrice a week even after directives have been issued by the company for the same, instructing them to adhere to it or human resources will reach out about “next steps, according to a report.

The company, on Wednesday, updated its hybrid work policy including tracking office badge attendance, confronting workers who are not coming in when they are supposed to and including attendance in employees’ performance reviews, according to internal memos viewed by CNBC.

With the implementation of the new work policy, most employees are expected in physical offices at least three days a week.

On Wednesday, Google’s chief people officer, Fiona Cicconi, wrote an email to employees, saying that “there’s just no substitute for coming together in person.”

“Of course, not everyone believes in ‘magical hallway conversations,’ but there’s no question that working together in the same room makes a positive difference,” CNBC quoted Cicconi’s email as saying.

“Many of the products we unveiled at I/O and Google Marketing Live last month were conceived, developed and built by teams working side by side.”

The company will start including their three days per week as a part of their performance reviews and teams will start sending reminders to workers “who are consistently absent from the office, she said in the mail.

Cicconi even asked already-approved remote workers to reconsider. “For those who are remote and who live near a Google office, we hope you’ll consider switching to a hybrid work schedule. Our offices are where you’ll be most connected to Google’s community,” CNBC reported.

In a statement to CNBC, Google spokesperson Ryan Lamont said, “our hybrid approach is designed to incorporate the best of being together in person with the benefits of working from home for part of the week. Now that we’re more than a year into this way of working, we’re formally integrating this approach into all of our workplace policies.”

The badge data viewed by company leaders is aggregate data and not individualized, he added.

These policy updates represent the company’s most stringent attempt to bring employees back into physical offices.

In 2021, after facing backlash for returning to offices, the company relaxed remote work plans in 2021 after facing backlash and said it expected to let 20 per cent of employees telecommute. However, most employees have been expected in physical offices at least three days a week as of April 2022 and at the time.

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