Google says anyone coming to work at its campuses must be vaccinated, starting in the US, and will delay the return to offices from September until mid-October
will others step up? @salesforce, @lyft, @Facebook, @apple, @Cisco, @Uber, @WellsFargo, @Visa? Does your workplace require vaccination?https://www.nytimes.com/ ... @amy_siskind : More of this! “Google said Wednesday that it would require employees who returned to the company's offices to be vaccinated.” https://www.nytimes.com/... Commissioner Dave A. Chokshi / @nychealthcommr : Hope to see even more companies follow Google's example!👏 https://twitter.com/... Aaron Levie / @levie : The only practical way forward https://twitter.com/... Chris Aniszczyk / @cra : no brainer and will be the norm much sooner than later for companies that aren't fully remote “Google to Require Vaccinations for On-Campus Workers” https://www.wsj.com/... Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : Facebook has also announced that employees need to be vaccinated before they can return to the office. The floodgates are going to be open and I expect all the major tech companies are going to have the same policy. https://www.cnbc.com/... Emmett Macfarlane / @emmmacfarlane : Fucking FACEBOOK is doing this better than the Government of Canada, or our universities, or our long-term care facilities, etc. etc. FACEBOOK. Jesus. https://twitter.com/... @zd_bernstein : @HaleyMess @Facebook Ironic - if they weren't letting vaccine misinformation spread like wildfire on their platform, they might not have needed to resort to this. Scott Dimmich / @scottdimmich : Google and Facebook requiring vaccinations prior employees' return to work. My forecast: a lot of retirements coming in most industries through the end of the year. https://twitter.com/... Keegan Siebenaler / @keegsieb : @HaleyMess @BrandyZadrozny @Facebook I read on Facebook that this was a HIPPA violation. Molly Jong-Fast / @mollyjongfast : Facebook just spreads anti-vaccine content...... https://twitter.com/... Jordan Weissmann / @jhweissmann : Announcements like this have me feeling more pessimistic about the economy than 3 weeks ago. I don't think widespread shutdowns are imminent, but central business districts in blue cities will keep hurting. https://www.cnbc.com/... @jandrade : This is the right approach!! I'm glad Google is standing up and requiring vaccines for anyone coming to the offices! 💪💉 https://twitter.com/... Rene Ritchie / @reneritchie : Good on Pichai. Hope all the tech CEOs follow suit. Keep everyone safe so we don't lose any more people or months of our collective lives. 🙏 https://twitter.com/... Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : Google announces that anyone who wants to work in the office will need to be vaccinated against COVID before they'll be allowed. This is fantastic news and I hope every other major tech employer does the same. You can WFH forever if you don't like vaccines https://blog.google/... Daniel Howley / @danielhowley : With Google mandating vaccines, expect more tech companies to follow suit. @dealbook : The vaccine mandate will apply to U.S. office locations “in the coming weeks” and to other regions “in the coming months,” according to a note from Sundar Pichai. https://www.nytimes.com/... Josh Sternberg / @joshsternberg : Google follows WaPo in mandating vaccinations for the coronavirus for anyone working at Google https://www.nytimes.com/... Maura Youngman / @mauramaura : Big Google return to office updates: 1. Everyone on campus will need to be vaccinated. 2. Global voluntary work from home extended through October 18th 2021. https://blog.google/... Kellen Browning / @kellen_browning : Breaking: Google is mandating vaccines for its employees. It also is pushing its return-to-office date to mid-October. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Wall Street Journal
Context & Ripple Effects
Google had already set an early long-horizon remote-work posture, saying it expected most staff to remain home through 2020 in its initial work-from-home extension. This policy turns the next stage of reopening into a condition of campus access rather than simply a calendar decision.
The move lands alongside Facebook's stated ambition for a large permanent remote workforce, outlined in its long-term remote-work plan. It makes Google a more prescriptive counterpoint: flexibility continues temporarily, but office access carries a new requirement.
First-order effects
Google employees seeking to work from U.S. campuses must be vaccinated, while employees retain voluntary remote work until the delayed mid-October reopening date.
Google must administer a split workforce policy in which campus access, rather than employment itself, is subject to a vaccination requirement.
Second-order effects
The public calls for other employers to follow Google put named companies including Salesforce, Lyft, Facebook, Apple, Cisco, Uber, Wells Fargo, and Visa under visible pressure to state whether their own workplace rules will match it.
Google's delayed reopening gives employees more time to choose remote work, reinforcing remote work as an operational fallback while campus rules are implemented.
Third-order effects
If large employers make vaccination a prerequisite for on-site work, return-to-office policies will increasingly be designed around access controls and health requirements rather than uniform companywide attendance dates.
The contrast between Google's conditional campus return and Facebook's permanent-remote-work ambition points toward workplace models differentiated by which work requires physical presence.
The trend: Large employers are moving from blanket office closures toward conditional, policy-driven workplace access while retaining remote work as a continuing operating model.
. @tim_cook spoke w/ me yesterday about this same issue at @Apple : “...our main focus right now is on when to come back...we pushed it from early September to at least October...we are monitoring things daily to really conclude whether that is the right answer or not”
More of this! “Google said Wednesday that it would require employees who returned to the company's offices to be vaccinated.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
“@Google announced that it will require vaccinations for employees who return to the company's offices.” Great move — will others step up? @salesforce, @lyft, @Facebook, @apple, @Cisco, @Uber, @WellsFargo, @Visa? Does your workplace require vaccination?https://www.nytimes.com/ ..…
THIS! While we wait for the public sector to get their act together with vaccine mandates, the onus is on the private sector to help us find our way out of this persistent pandemic. https://twitter.com/...
no brainer and will be the norm much sooner than later for companies that aren't fully remote “Google to Require Vaccinations for On-Campus Workers” https://www.wsj.com/...
Announcements like this have me feeling more pessimistic about the economy than 3 weeks ago. I don't think widespread shutdowns are imminent, but central business districts in blue cities will keep hurting. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Good on Pichai. Hope all the tech CEOs follow suit. Keep everyone safe so we don't lose any more people or months of our collective lives. 🙏 https://twitter.com/...
Google announces that anyone who wants to work in the office will need to be vaccinated against COVID before they'll be allowed. This is fantastic news and I hope every other major tech employer does the same. You can WFH forever if you don't like vaccines https://blog.google/...
The vaccine mandate will apply to U.S. office locations “in the coming weeks” and to other regions “in the coming months,” according to a note from Sundar Pichai. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Big Google return to office updates: 1. Everyone on campus will need to be vaccinated. 2. Global voluntary work from home extended through October 18th 2021. https://blog.google/...
Looks like Lyft is also choosing office closure over requiring employees be vaccinated to work from the office. I guess this is where we find out which tech companies think being anti-vax is a position worth taking seriously. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@Carnage4Life Vaccine saves you from a gruesome and swift death; it doesn't prevent you from getting delta, or long COVID. They are doing the right thing.
Twitter has re-closed its offices, Apple and Google have both pushed back their re-openings by a month. Winter is coming back and so will covid. This thing isn't nearly done. https://techcrunch.com/...
Surprising that Twitter chose this option versus requiring employees be vaccinated. I wouldn't have expected any big tech to choose that option. https://twitter.com/...
Apple is reinstating mask mandates at some US offices: “We are reintroducing the face mask requirement for anyone indoors at Apple facilities unless you are eating, drinking or are alone in an enclosed office or conference room...Outdoors, face masks continue to be optional.”
Masking at stores I've visited was already better than almost anywhere except airports and public transit. I like to think that Apple Stores attract a more discerning customer base than the public at large.
U.S. Apple Store pages updated to note that masks are required again. (Glad to see they had the humility to change guidance on this after celebrating the full reopening of stores sans masks with Tower Theatre. Would've been easier to forge ahead.) https://twitter.com/...
Interestingly, there are a LOT of people (15-20%) who aren't per se opposed to getting a vaccine, but aren't gonna do it for personal or communal health. Employers encouraging vaccines has the potential to be *very* effective in vaccinating the next wave. https://twitter.com/...
Google and Facebook requiring vaccinations prior employees' return to work. My forecast: a lot of retirements coming in most industries through the end of the year. https://twitter.com/...
It's always an opportunity when you can change a corporate policy in a way that's likely to be disproportionately disliked by employees you'd prefer, on average, consider outside opportunities. I strongly suspect Covidiots are such a group. https://twitter.com/...
Fucking FACEBOOK is doing this better than the Government of Canada, or our universities, or our long-term care facilities, etc. etc. FACEBOOK. Jesus. https://twitter.com/...
Facebook has also announced that employees need to be vaccinated before they can return to the office. The floodgates are going to be open and I expect all the major tech companies are going to have the same policy. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@HaleyMess @Facebook Ironic - if they weren't letting vaccine misinformation spread like wildfire on their platform, they might not have needed to resort to this.
As Facebook reports its grotesque earnings having monetized the anti-vaxx movement and maximized its engagement affinity with other toxic groups seeking to unravel the social order, we note that cities are now resorting to paying people $100 to get vaccinated.