While Google had previously set June as its return-to-office date, the company now says employees can continue to "couch commute" through September of 2021.
Earlier in the pandemic, Brian Crop at the business advisory firm Gartner told KCBS Radio that working from home just works for many tech companies.
"The technology is no longer the limiting factor as to why employees don’t work remotely. This could create the moment where managers and leaders become more comfortable with letting their employees work remotely."
In a message to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said they would also be experimenting with a hybrid model of office and remote work that includes at least three "collaboration days" a week with workers in company spaces, although those could be indoors or outdoors.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told CBS's Face the Nation in the spring that the pandemic will force companies to reimagine how the workplace works.
"We're going to have to figure out how to get people into buildings that they're fearful of. My guess is we'll have more demand for office space, not less, because people will want social distancing. We're going to have to think about hub-and-spoke systems where local people don't travel so far because they don't want to be in public transit for so long. So we're gonna have to really rethink how businesses operate. They need their employees back."
But not all tech companies seem to feel that way.
Twitter has told its employees that they can continue to work from home "forever" and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he expects half of their employees would be working remotely within the next five to ten years.
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