I work at a company you've heard of that did something similar (their announcement was on HN) and, at least in my case, the announcements had been made internally a few weeks beforehand.

It is always possible for there to be multiple plausible reasons for something, and the least generous assumptions can be frequently incorrect

It's not about current employees as much as future recruiting.

PR requires internal employees. That leads me to the logic that, for most companies, PR is targeted at non-employees.

It's interesting to consider the group psychology aspect. During the 2020 summer protests, many also said that the huge crowds were not spreading covid. Maybe this is similar. When there is a larger issue people are focusing on, concerns about covid get pushed to the backburner. The real test will come when the Ukraine-Russia war subsides.

I'm sure the fact that protests are outside with the majority participants likely being mask wearers based on their affiliations also added to the risk calc.

"huge crowds were not spreading covid OUTDOORS" is the right take. Indoors is a recycled hellscape of germs. Viral load is a real thing. I went to several outdoor concerts and didn't catch covid however I'm going to continue to work remote.

It's easier to believe the singular "COVID isn't real" than it is to understand the plurality of viral load, HVAC, particulate sizes, mask ratings...

That's the challenge.

large crowds of people who do not take covid seriously, who socially disincentivize transmission precautions (e.g. sturgis) seem to spread covid.

on the other hand, large crowds that do take covid seriously, and socially encourage those precautions, appear to not spread covid as much.

where's the group psychology aspect?

At Google, not only are many still worried about COVID, but we just finished the complete shitshow known as Perf, there is war in Ukraine, so they thought this was a brilliant time to announce this as if it's supposed to "cheer us up" or something.

I am really starting to question if my values align with Google's anymore.

are you suggesting they wait for the conflict in Ukraine to resolve before making announcements? your comment sounds paranoid.

What a straw man. And thanks for the mental eval!

Love your attitude towards the odd comments. Keep it up dude

Doesn't it seem more likely this is related to changing covid conditions than war in Ukraine?

There's "no COVID" in my state, so I don't feel qualified to comment on that.

I forgot what Google's RTO policy is, but Twitter still allows fully remote work, it's more of an optional RTO.

I've added that Twitter caveat IRL convos. It's an important distinction and one that I applied them for.

That said, I still think all 3 PR departments subscribed to the same strategy, even though Twitter missed an opportunity to build positive PR b/c their policy is good.

You can look at any announcement and say "utilizing mid-term elections to sweep these announcements under the rug... swap out mid-terms with holidays, COVID, hurricanes, natural disasters, oil price swings, etc etc etc.

If you go looking for it, you will find it. Doesn't make it true though.

Fast followers? Or do you think the decision was synchronized at the top?