Google announced Monday that most of its 200,000 employees and contractors should work from home through next June, a sobering assessment of the coronavirus pandemic's potential staying power.
The remote-work order, issued by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, also affects other companies owned by Google's corporate parent, Alphabet Inc. It marks a six-month extension of the Silicon Valley tech giant's previous plan to keep most of its offices closed through the rest of this year.
“I know this extended timeline may come with mixed emotions and I want to make sure you’re taking care of yourselves," wrote Pichai, who is also Alphabet's CEO, in an email to employees.
Pichai's decision was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The prolonged lockdown of Google's offices could influence other major employers to take similar precautions; the technology industry has been at the forefront of the shift to remote work triggered by the spread of the virus.
Even before the World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11, Google and many other prominent tech firms had begun telling their employees to work from home.