Google real estate exec says 5% more workers coming in to office each week

A sign is pictured outside a Google office near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., May 8, 2019. REUTERS/Paresh Dave//File Photo/File Photo

Register now for FREE unlimited access to reuters.com

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google has seen an increasing number of employees coming in to its offices each week, particularly younger workers, the company’s real estate chief said during an interview at the Reuters Next conference on Friday.

On Thursday, Google indefinitely pushed back the mandated return date for employees due to concerns about the Omicron variant. The company had previously said its 150,000 global employees could be required to come in to the office as soon as Jan. 10. read more

Nevertheless, David Radcliffe, Google’s vice president for real estate and workplace services, said many Googlers are returning of their own volition. About 40% of its U.S. employees on average came in to the office daily in recent weeks, up from 20-25% three months ago, he said. Globally, 5% more employees are returning to offices week after week, he added.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to reuters.com

“People are actually showing voluntarily that they want to be back in the office,” Radcliffe said. “We’re moving in the right direction.”

Younger employees and those who joined Google more recently have been coming in at higher rates, seeking opportunities to learn from colleagues, Radcliffe added.

Google expects workers in the office at least three days a week once it mandates a new return date.

Based on feedback from those already back, it is redesigning floor plans to increase private, quiet spaces for distraction-free individual work and adding conferencing and other collaboration areas in open spaces both indoors and outdoors.

Real estate and human resources experts have considered Google a trailblazer for the past 20 years in sustainable office design and variety of workplace perks, including free meals, massages and gyms.

To extend those sustainability and wellness benefits to remote work, Google has encouraged employees to buy carbon offsets and non-toxic furniture for their home offices. It also has provided free cooking classes and discounts to fitness studios near workers’ homes.

“It was amazing how many employees had really never cooked themselves,” Radcliffe said.

To watch the Reuters  Next conference, please register here https://reutersevents.com/events/next/

Register now for FREE unlimited access to reuters.com

Reporting by Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif., and Julia Love in San Francisco
Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Matthew Lewis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-real-estate-exec-says-more-workers-coming-office-2021-12-03/

Christin Hakim

Next Post

Lyceum Theater was one of the first large entertainment venues in Minneapolis

Sun Dec 5 , 2021
Most Twin Citians of a certain age are familiar with the old Minneapolis Auditorium, which stood where the Convention Center is today. But that building, erected in the 1920s, was actually the city’s second auditorium. The first, a building constructed in 1905 by means of a most unusual public/private partnership, […]
Lyceum Theater was one of the first large entertainment venues in Minneapolis

You May Like