Google says there is no change to “Work from Anywhere” limits

Google is changing its Work From Anywhere policy, counting even a single remote day as a full week amid a tech-wide push for in-office work.

Google is scaling back its “Work From Anywhere” (WFA) policy, originally introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to internal documents obtained by CNBC.

Under the updated rules, even a single day of remote work under WFA will now count as a full week. The WFA policy, which allowed employees to work remotely outside of their main office for up to four weeks per calendar year, was designed to offer flexibility beyond the standard hybrid schedule.

Google’s hybrid model, established during the pandemic, allows employees to work from home two days per week. WFA days, by contrast, let staffers work from locations other than their home or nearby offices.

New rules affect remote work

“Whether you log 1 WFA day or 5 WFA days in a given standard work week, 1 WFA week will be deducted from your WFA weekly balance,” the internal document stated.

The update also prohibits working from a Google office in a different state or country during WFA time due to “legal and financial implications of cross-border work.”

Employees in different locations may also need to adhere to business hours for that specific time zone.

The WFA changes do not apply to all Google employees and may exclude those required to work on-site, such as data center staff. Violating the policy could result in disciplinary action or termination, the document says.

Employees find new rules confusing

At a recent all-hands meeting, some employees described the update as confusing. One top-rated question submitted internally asked:

“Why does even one day of WFA count as a whole week, and can we reconsider the restriction on using WFA weeks to work from home?”

John Casey, Google’s vice president of performance and rewards, explained in the meeting that WFA “was meant to meet Googlers where they were during the pandemic.”

He added that the policy “was always intended to be taken in increments of a week and not be used as a substitute for working from home in a regular hybrid workweek,” according to audio obtained by CNBC.

Google has also begun offering voluntary buyouts to some US full-time employees and warned remote workers in several units that their roles could be considered for layoffs if they did not return to a hybrid schedule.

However, Google stated that the company is not doing major changes to the WFA policy. "There was no change or new limits added to our Work From Anywhere Weeks policy. We simply clarified a few months ago that employees should use the flexibility to work in a different location for full weeks, not days, at a time," said Google's spokesperson in a written statement to Cybernews.

Tech companies cracking down on remote work

Google’s move aligns with a broader trend among tech companies that want to bring employees back into the office.

Opponents of remote work argue that workplace culture has suffered beyond economic considerations. Many company leaders have expressed concerns that fully remote work leads to a loss of shared culture and stifles innovation.

Last month, Microsoft announced that employees will be required to work in the office three days a week starting next year, replacing a policy that previously allowed most staff to work from home half the time or more with manager approval.

Amazon has taken an even stricter approach, directing corporate employees to be in the office five days a week.

However, workers are not that keen on giving up their flexibility. Research from the University of South Australia shows that many Australian workers are so keen to continue with remote work that they would willingly sacrifice parts of their salary to do so.

Article updated on 20th October with Google's statement

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