Google has advised employees that presence in the office will count towards their performance. Photo: Sundry Photography/iStock Editorial
A year ago, Google welcomed its employees back to the office for the first time with a lavish party.
A pop star was headlining the party at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California Lizzo. “It's incredible to see how connected we are to each other now,” the Grammy winner told the crowd of Googlers.
Twelve months later, Google had enough support and privileges to try to coax reluctant tech workers back to their campuses. .
Instead, the $1.5 trillion company has threatened to crack down on employees who don't show up. , attendance with alerts will be included in their performance reports.
The attendance badges will be recorded when employees arrive at the office each morning, although the data will be stored in aggregate, a CNBC spokesperson said.
Tech companies including Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon have gotten tougher on staff in recent months as they try to get people back into the office. Executives believe face-to-face collaboration is critical to improving productivity.
In an email to employees this week, Fiona Cicconi, chief human resources officer at Google, said: “There is nothing that can replace a face-to-face meeting. ”
Ms Cicconi added that she will now begin to include returning to the compliance office at least three days a week as part of staff reviews and issuing alerts to workers “who are consistently absent from the office,” reports CNBC.
< p>The company's head of human resources also asked those employees who have been approved for full remote work to reconsider returning part-time to company offices.
Fiona Cicconi, director of human resources at Google, says “nothing replaces a face-to-face meeting.” Photo: LinkedIn
She wrote to employees: “For those who work remotely and live near the Google office, we hope you consider switching to a hybrid work schedule.”
The executive added that full remote work will be possible in the future . provided to employees “on an exceptional basis.”
However, this requirement has caused concern and protests from some employees.
Chris Schmidt, a software engineer at Google and a member of the Alphabet Workers Union, says: “We have maintained the quality of work thanks to the flexible working hours in the office.
“Suddenly the professionalism of the workers was ignored in favor of the ambiguous attendance tracking practices associated with our performance appraisal.”
He adds: “Currently New York City workers don’t have enough desks and meeting rooms even for workers for comfortable use. A one-size-fits-all policy is not appropriate for these circumstances.”
Google, which employs 190,000 people, already has a policy requiring employees to come into the office at least three days a week, but like many tech companies, it is struggling to get employees back into the office after they leave. Enthusiastically moved to remote work.
After sending employees home to protect them at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, announced in April 2021 that the company would move to hybrid work.
< p>He said he still expects a rise to 20% of employees working completely remotely, but gradually employees will be asked to come in three days a week. “The future of work is flexibility,” Pichai said at the time.
Do you work from home or in the office?
However, attempts to repeal the remote work policy have led to bitterness, division and protest in the technology sector. Last year, Google Maps contractors threatened to go on strike over demands to return to the office. Contractors working at Google's YouTube Music division in Austin have ditched the instruments in protest of similar demands.
Google's corporate offices have also struggled to win back employees, casting doubt on the company's plans to spend $7 billion this year on its real estate. A Google employee joked on Twitter that on Fridays, “every Google employee gets their own office – like in the whole building.”
In her memo to Google employees, HR chief Ms Cicconi said “not everyone believes this.” magical conversations in the hallway… there's no question that sharing a room together is a positive thing.”
It's not just Google that's tough on working from home. Elon Musk, a notorious remote work skeptic, has almost completely abandoned it since he took over Twitter and ordered employees to work from the office at least 40 hours a week.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook. , has been one of the most vocal proponents of remote work, defending the prospect of a digital “metaverse” where people will forever meet with colleagues in virtual reality.
But last week it became known that Mark Zuckerberg has changed. tack Employees will be in the office three days a week.
According to Glenn Murphy, European head of technology executive search firm Riviera Partners, the tech staff feels “there's nothing on the wall written” when it comes to completing remote work.
This presents a challenge for many who are telecommuting after moving out of the cities where they have their office.
Murphy says: “We have candidates who left during this period and now cannot return , will they be punished, forced to return to the office?”
Despite the popularization of the 'metaverse' virtual reality, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ordered his employees to return to the office as a threesome. days a week. Photo: REUTERS/Laure Andrillon.
Octavius Black, chief executive of behavioral science consultancy MindGym, says it's often “good for employees” to return to the office a few days a week for networking and career advancement.
But he added that companies risk alienating workers by forcing them to return using “hard power” rather than convincing them of the benefits of office work. Instead, he says, companies need to convince employees that face-to-face meetings can benefit them as leaders, mentors, or help them learn.
While some Silicon Valley companies have set clear return requirements, others took a completely different approach.
Seattle-based software giant Salesforce, led by Marc Benioff, has offered to donate up to $10 to local charities for every day an employee comes into the office between June 12 and June 23, giving away up to $2.5 million.
Whatever the strategy, more tech companies seem to be adopting flexible working post-pandemic using carrots or sticks.
On an anonymous Blind tech forum, a Google employee wrote: “[Back to office] is a reality… I bet it will eventually return to a full week.”
A Google spokesperson said, “Our hybrid approach is designed to bring the best together with you. the benefits of working from home for part of the week. Now that we've been using this way of working for over a year, we're officially integrating this approach into all of our workplace policies.”
A Meta spokesperson said, “We're committed to distributed work. , and we believe people can have a significant impact both in the office and at home.”
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