Google is putting itself in the vaccination-mandate camp. CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in a Wednesday morning email that anyone working at its US campuses must be vaccinated. That policy will be expanded to its other locations around the globe in the coming months, he said, per the Wall Street Journal. "The implementation will vary according to local conditions and regulations, and will not apply until vaccines are widely available in your area," he wrote. There will be an exceptions process for those with medical or "protected" reasons. The Journal reports that those who decline to get vaccinated for political reasons are instructed to stick with remote work and talk to HR about their options.
The company also pushed back its target return date from late September to mid-October. In explaining that the global voluntary work-from-home policy would now run through Oct. 18, Pichai had this to say: "We are excited that we've started to re-open our campuses and encourage Googlers who feel safe coming to sites that have already opened to continue doing so. At the same time, we recognize that many Googlers are seeing spikes in their communities caused by the Delta variant and are concerned about returning to the office. This extension will allow us time to ramp back into work while providing flexibility for those who need it." CNBC notes that Apple has also bumped its return-to-work plans to October. (More Google stories.)
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