Google to keep employees home until summer 2021

Re:Google to keep employees home until summer 2021 by matthewmacleod on Monday July 27, 2020 @03:55PM (#23968765)

In some ways it’s actually kind of annoying to get a medium-term commitment. My partner’s job at Google can be (and of course recently has been) done remotely. We would rather move somewhere cheaper and closer to family, rather than being chained to a particular office location.

Now we have confirmation that remote work is basically all fine, except we can’t take real advantage of it because there‘s no reason to think it will continue to be possible in the future.

I appreciate that companies are offering flexibility, but it would definitely be better if there was more thinking being done about the long-term restructuring of work.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google to keep employees home until summer 2021 by titanomachy on Monday July 27, 2020 @08:12PM (#23970870)

I made the move anyway. We'll see how it works out long-term.

I'm enjoying being back home, especially since "home" is in a country that has their shit together a lot more than the US does right now. That means I can go to the gym, visit parks, and have a basically normal social life. I do miss my friends in the (US) city I normally work in.

If my employer forcibly recalls everyone to the office, I might decide to take a slightly lower-paid job in my home city, especially if the US is still inundated with COVID cases.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google to keep employees home until summer 2021 by ejvincent on Monday July 27, 2020 @08:29PM (#23970973)

You should be careful of the tax implications. WFH outside of the state your employment center was based in opens you to possible complications around how your employment is viewed by the IRS.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google to keep employees home until summer 2021 by titanomachy on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @01:35AM (#23972611)

Yeah, treading very carefully there. This won't be my first complicated tax year...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google to keep employees home until summer 2021 by pb7 on Monday July 27, 2020 @04:11PM (#23968906)

>I appreciate that companies are offering flexibility, but it would definitely be better if there was more thinking being done about the long-term restructuring of work.

There is. Your partner has information on that internally. It's a big decision for a company of 120,000+ full time employees across 150 countries so it will take time to figure out a permanent plan going forward.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google to keep employees home until summer 2021 by matthewmacleod on Monday July 27, 2020 @04:20PM (#23968988)

That’s a fair point. I was a little annoyed to hear a kind of vague medium-term plan today rather than something more firm or adventurous, but it’s fair to say that it’s understandable given the scope of the change.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google to keep employees home until summer 2021 by pb7 on Monday July 27, 2020 @04:23PM (#23969019)

Very fair but I think even announcing a 1 year plan is incredibly fair given that many similar companies (e.g. Apple) are still WFH on an ongoing basis, ready to come back as soon as the COVID rates hit a certain threshold. Now that would suck.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google to keep employees home until summer 2021 by qmarchi on Monday July 27, 2020 @04:15PM (#23968943)

(Googler, opinions are my own)

Personally, I think it's because of Google's focus on collaboration at all costs internally, which just isn't possible if everyone is working remote. IMs and Meets can only get you so far, but there's no substitute for overhearing a co-worker chatting about something or popping over next to them for a moment to see what they're working on.

[ Parent | on HN ]