Google Forcing Some Remote Workers To Come Back 3 Days a Week or Lose Their Jobs

Five years removed from the onset of the Covid pandemic, Google is demanding that some remote employees return to the office if they want to keep their jobs and avoid being part of broader cost cuts at the company. CNBC reports: Several units within Google have told remote staffers that their roles may be at risk if they don't start showing up at the closest office for a hybrid work schedule, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC. Some of those employees were previously approved for remote work.

Yeah it kind of is.

[rsilvergun]

These are always stealth layoffs. They target employees they know need to work from home. Typically there will be exceptions for any employees they can't afford to lose.

This is basically a way for them to fire you without severance or without unemployment insurance.

A friend of a friend who smokes a little weed just lost their job to random drug testing. He'd been working for that company for something like 10 years.

Doesn't really matter anymore everything's just going to shit because people nee

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

These are always stealth layoffs.

The company makes their employment rules (as is their right). Those that don't like those rules are always free to take their talent to another company that matches their goals and aspirations (whatever those might be). Some companies may not be the right fit for everyone, and Google is not exempt from that reality.

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[Anonymous Coward]

> The company makes their employment rules (as is their right).

They don't have to make this rule. Sometimes being unnecessarily cruel to your workers is just being evil.

Re:Yeah it kind of is.

[snowshovelboy]

I would still file for unemployment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_dismissal [wikipedia.org]

Re: Three days in the office

[beelsebob]

If people are living a significant distance from any office, the requirement to move to keep your job could indeed be terrible.

Re: Three days in the office

[LindleyF]

For about five months, I was living on the east coast and working with a west coast team. That was an absolutely amazing arrangement. Wake up whenever, get some home stuff done, then get online around noon and everyone else is just starting their day. It was superb. Too good to last, of course. But it made me wonder if there's opportunities to exploit time zone differences to increase productivity that everyone is missing.

Poor Long Covid patients

[BrightCandle]

There is a lot of Long Covid patients hanging on by a thread using remote work to stay in work who are unable to go into the office. The numbers now suffering are truly ridiculous and only getting worse. We were talking 400million in 2023 but its only grown since then and most of the studies in the past year are absurd numbers. This is going to cause a lot of disability issues for people who need that remote work as an accommodation. So far every company that has tried to force this has backtracked because

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[martin-boundary]

The population of the USA is projected to be 347million in 2025.

Re:Poor Long Covid patients

[Bert64]

You do realise there are people living outside of the USA?

Google is a terrible company

[GrahamJ]

In case being a privacy invading advertising monopolist wasn't enough...

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[el84]

I would happily work for nothing and even pay google for the honour of being in the office for 6 days a week. I wouldnt use any of that AI shit either.

Work ethic issues.

[GotNoRice]

There are many people who are incredibly dedicated to their jobs, even while working remotely. I truly feel for these people and hope that they are identified and given exceptions where appropriate. But there are also clear work ethic issues associated with remote work. Just another one of those issues where a group of people trying to exploit the system end up ruining it for everyone. Fact is, there ARE a lot of people who love remote work *specifically because* they can practically ghost their job and always do the absolute minimum to not get fired. It's a lot easier to get away with this when you aren't in an office with other real people. Just like all of the kids who loved remote schooling during covid, because for all intents and purposes, it was like having a year (or more) off of school.

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[gizmo2199]

Most software development is done by ultra-remote workers in India.
Good luck getting them to come in to your office 3 days a week!
But somehow execs are rewarded for using those remote workers?!

Re: Work ethic issues.

[joe_frisch]

Iâ(TM)ve seen the same. Some people are very productive from home, others get very little done. Most managers hate firing people and slackers can get away with minimal work for a long time. (But word does get around).

Of course many people have jobs that canâ(TM)t be done from home, so to them people complaining about 3 days a week at work donâ(TM)t get a lot of sympathy.

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[Bert64]

Of course many people have jobs that canâ(TM)t be done from home, so to them people complaining about 3 days a week at work donâ(TM)t get a lot of sympathy.

Different jobs have different conditions, things you should have considered when choosing a career path.
Also for those who do still have to travel, removing millions of unnecessary commuters makes the journey a lot better - its the difference between an hour in traffic or a 30 mins easy drive, or having a seat on the train instead of having to stand for an hour. Long term it also serves to rebalance property prices so that you don't have to pay exorbitant prices to live close to your workplace.

Three days vs

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[Bert64]

Iâ(TM)ve seen the same. Some people are very productive from home, others get very little done. Most managers hate firing people and slackers can get away with minimal work for a long time. (But word does get around).

Take out "from home"...
Some people are productive, some people are not. The location where they work has very little impact on that, it's just attracted more scrutiny and forms a convenient excuse. Those people who slack off at home were almost certainly slacking off in the office too only you were using a flawed "attendance" methodology to measure productivity.
I've encountered MANY people who arrive early, spend all day in the office and then leave late, but still don't get much done. If HR are measuring a

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[Bert64]

There are work ethic issues associated with some people. These people will slack off wether they're in an office or not. I've known countless people who spend an entire day in an office and still fail to get their work done, just as i know many people who work remotely and get their work done reliably.

If someone is just going to slack off then they need to be fired irrespective of where they work, removing or limiting remote work for everyone is just bad all round (extra costs for the company, extra costs a

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[JabrTheHut]

Also many kids hate school because they suffer bullying and peer pressure there. Having remote schooling completely eliminates that.

US schools seem to encourage bullying and other poor behavior. Having gone through multiple school systems, both me and immediate family, US schools are the worst, hands down.

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[serafean]

>There are many people who are incredibly dedicated to their jobs, even while working remotely. I truly feel for these people and hope that they are identified and given exceptions where appropriate. But there are also clear work ethic issues associated with remote work.

They won't get exceptions. Just went through this at my employer.