In February, Google laid off an unknown number of cloud and HR employees.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
In April, it laid off hundreds of employees in its platforms and devices unit, which is responsible for developing Android, Pixel, Chrome, Fitbit, and other products.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Google even fired 35% of its managers in August, affecting those who ran smaller teams.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The following month, it fired over 200 contract workers who worked on developing Google\u2019s AI products.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In addition to layoffs, Google recently began cracking down on remote work in its company culture. Earlier this year, it reportedly sent memos to several teams warning remote employees that they would lose their jobs if they didn\u2019t show up to the office three days a week.<\/p>\n
Google has begun tightening remote work policies for employees.Image source: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images <\/p>\n
Now, Google is doubling down on its efforts to limit remote work. This time, it has decided to add restrictions to its \u201cWork from Anywhere\u201d policy, which was put in place in 2020 and allows employees to work from any location outside of the office (except from their home or anywhere nearby) four weeks per calendar year, according to a recent report<\/a> from CNBC.<\/p>\n Google has tweaked the policy to state that working remotely for one day counts as a full week.<\/p>\n Related: Target sends stern message to employees amid customer struggles<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhether you log 1 WFA (work from anywhere) day or 5 WFA days in a given standard work week, 1 WFA week will be deducted from your WFA weekly balance,\u201d reads an internal document outlining the new rule.<\/p>\n During an internal all-hands meeting discussing the change, John Casey, Google vice president of performance and rewards, said that WFA \u201cwas meant to meet Googlers where they were during the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe policy was always intended to be taken in increments of a week and not be used as a substitute for working from home in a regular hybrid workweek,\u201d said Casey.<\/p>\n The policy was always intended to be taken in increments of a week and not be used as a substitute for working from home in a regular hybrid workweek.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In addition, the document, which was sent to employees over the summer, also informs workers that during their WFA days, they are not permitted to work from a Google office in a separate state or country due to \u201clegal and financial implications of cross border work.\u201d<\/p>\n Employees working in a different location may be required to work during the business hours that align with that time zone.<\/p>\n The update to Google\u2019s WFA policy doesn\u2019t apply to all employees. Data center workers and employees required to work at office locations may be exempt from these changes.<\/p>\n The document also warns that employees who violate the policy will face disciplinary action or job termination.<\/p>\n The move from Google comes as many large tech companies, such as Amazon, Samsung, Dell and Intel, have recently scaled back remote work policies, with some even requiring their employees to return to working from the office five days a week.<\/p>\n As more U.S. employers change their minds about remote work, office foot traffic is still below pre-pandemic levels. According to recent data<\/a> from Placer.ai, nationwide office visits in August declined by 34.3% compared to August 2019.<\/p>\n More Labor:<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the recent push to cut remote work out of the picture in workplaces across the country, many employees are still very committed to having flexible work schedules that allow them to work from home.<\/p>\n According to a recent survey<\/a> from ResumeBuilder.com, 68% of workers say their productivity would improve if they could pick how many days to work from the office. Also, 53% said they would leave their company if it began cracking down on in-office attendance.<\/p>\n \u201cFor many employees, remote work has become a non-negotiable part of their professional lives,\u201d said Resume Builder\u2019s Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller in the report. \u201cAs companies attempt to reinstate in-office requirements, there has been pushback from workers. Employers should know job seekers today still have options if they are looking to work remotely.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: Google makes a harsh decision amid alarming worker dispute<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally reported by TheStreet<\/a> on Oct 12, 2025, where it first appeared in the Jobs, Employment and Work News<\/a> section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the past few months, Google, which is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, has been making drastic workplace…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3092],"tags":[51,867,897,16,15,162814],"class_list":{"0":"post-494500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-google","10":"tag-jobs","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-wfa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115363263534041110","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n