Google Employees To Work From Home Through 2020 With Few Exceptions

A majority of employees at Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOGL subsidiary Google will be working from home through the rest of the year, the company's chief executive officer Sundar Pichai said at an internal meeting on Thursday, as reported by The Information.

What Happened

Employees whose work can't be done remotely will be able to work from Google's offices starting June or July, with "enhanced safety measures" in place, Pichai said, according to Information.

The company last month said some offices might start to reopen starting June 1, in a "staggered" manner.

Facebook Inc. FB also announced employees will have the option to work from home for the rest of the year, but it will also start to reopen its offices on July 6.

See Also: Will The Remote Office Become Habit After The Coronavirus Pandemic?

Why It Matters

The news comes a number of states in the United States are easing down lockdown measures that were put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Authorities across the world are struggling to find a balance between restarting economic activities and keeping the virus under check.

There are more than 3.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases across the globe, including 269,584 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Health experts have warned of a second wave of coronavirus if the economy is restarted without proper social distancing measures and protections in place.