Google is going to punish employees who do not show up to the office regularly.
Hybrid work policy update
On Wednesday it had updated its hybrid work policy, according to which office badge attendance will be tracked.
Those required in offices but do not show up will be confronted.
Attendance of the employees will be included in their performance reviews.
The employees are now required to come to the physical offices at least three days a week.
Company email
Google’s Chief People Officer, Fiona Cicconi sent out an e-mail, saying “that there is no substitute for coming together in person.
Of course, not everyone believes in ‘magical hallway conversations,’ but there’s no question that working together in the same room makes a positive difference.”
The email highlights that the company’s products launched at I/O and Google Marketing Live the previous month were conceived, developed, and built by teams that were working together, side by side.
Performance reviews
“Three days per week” will be included in the performance reviews, and the teams are required to send out a reminder to those who are inconsistent with in-office attendance.
Cicconi asked the workers who are living close to the Google offices to reconsider their mode of working since the physical office is the place where they will stay connected with Google the most.
The company has decided to track attendance using badge data.
Global offices covered as well
Executives are now studying local requirements to implement the policy in other nations as well.
The change means that fully remote work will be granted only by “exception,” and those who fail to follow these policies will be approached by HR for the “next steps.”
Back in 2021 Google, Microsoft, and Apple attempted to bring people back.
Google staffers protested, questioning its necessity since the tech giant made record profits during the pandemic.
After this the company let 20% of its employees telecommute.
Competition against AI
However, things changed since April 2022 when employees were asked to show up physically at least three days a week.
Such stringent policies were put into place since strong competition began in the wake of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, especially when Google is facing off against ChatGPT, notably backed by Microsoft, that is rapidly gaining success.
This crackdown also comes at a time when the tech company is reducing its real estate footprint.
