Google on Tuesday extended the option for its employees to work from home into next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Returning to Google campuses will remain voluntary globally through January 10, with local offices given the discretion to decide when to require employees to return to their desks, chief executive officer Sundar Pichai told employees.

"I'm happy to say that a large number of offices globally are already open for business, and we are welcoming back tens of thousands of Googlers on a voluntary basis," he said.

He, however, said that the road ahead may not be all that easy. “The road ahead may be a little longer and bumpier than we hoped, yet I remain optimistic that we will get through it together,” Pichai said.

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The Google CEO has promised workers 30 days' notice before they would have to return to offices, and announced that they would be able to take off an extra day in October and December as "reset days" to "rest and recharge."

Following the spike in infections due to the Delta variant of coronavirus, Google had earlier extend its global work-from-home option through October 18.

In a blog post in July, Pichai had stated, anyone coming to work on the campuses will need to be vaccinated.

This is the third time that return to the office for Google’s workforce of more than 130,000-plus employees has been delayed. In December, Google had delayed return to offices to September 1, after which employees would be required to work in person for at least three days a week. The date was then pushed to October 18 and now to January 10, 2022.

"Seeing Googlers together in the offices these past few weeks filled me with optimism, and I'm looking forward to brighter days ahead," Pichai had said in July.

(Edited by : Kanishka Sarkar)

First Published:Sept 1, 2021 1:28 PM IST