Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, says that business leaders need to be open to embracing employees’ views of remote working.
“There has to be a dialogue of respect on both sides, I think, but I think CEOs need to embrace the fact that in the modern workplace, employees want to have a say in where they work,” said Pichai. “And I think there is strength in that too. So I think that’s the way I’ve looked at it.”
Pichai also recommended that having employees work three days in the office and two days at work can create a healthy work-life balance. He added that around 20% to 30% of Google employees have voluntarily returned to the office and that in New York, half of staffers have returned in person.
Google’s return-to-office policy includes vaccination requirements and the ability to request remote working or relocation arrangements. As of August, the company said it had approved 85% of around 10,000 requests to work from home.
The company previously received pushback from its employees for its initial hesitancy to lay out concrete flexible work policies. However, the company has since broadened its strategy and will allow workers to have more flexibility in where and when they work.
