Employees at Google are calling out the company for applying unfair remote work policies. According to Business Insider, the tech company employees say the new return-to-office plans are being applied unevenly. While some team members and managers can work remotely, others are no longer allowed to work from home (or anywhere).
Google recently announced that employees must return to the office at least three days per week starting April 4. The company announced that while on-site work is a priority, there is still the possibility for remote work extensions and location switches. However, employees feel these extensions and permissions are privileges extended to certain employees.
Why Are Google Employees Calling Out the Company?
The company employees raised their complaints at an all-hands meeting last week, submitting questions through a system called Dory. Among the questions, Insider revealed two of the most popular ones involving remote work:
“Google made record profits through the pandemic (and WFH), traffic has already increased (at least in Bay Area) with gas prices at record high, and people have different preferences for WFH vs work from office,” one question said. “Why is the RTO policy not ‘Work from office when you want or when it makes sense to?'” Another submitter said some teams “blanket ban” remote work, with Google rejecting applications “even if managers are supportive.”
An employee revealed that Google’s latest return-to-office policies were arbitrary. There are employees barred from remote work even when their manager is allowed to work from home. Furthermore, Bay Area employees will pay lower salaries to those employees relocating to cities like North Carolina or Houston.
