Google plans to reopen some US offices within the next month

Google said it will allow employees to return to some U.S. offices within the next month, in another sign the technology industry is trying to get back to the workplace after more than a year of remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Employees can choose whether to go into Alphabet Inc. unit’s offices until September, Fionna Cicconi, a senior vice president and Google’s Chief People Officer, wrote Wednesday in a memo to staff.

“Offices will begin to open in a limited capacity based on specific criteria that include increases in vaccine availability and downward trends in Covid-19 cases,” Cicconi wrote. “We advise you to get a vaccine, though it will not be mandatory to have one in order for Googlers to return to the office.”

Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told employees in December that the company would pilot a hybrid model in which teams come together for “collaboration days” in the office and can spend the other days working from home or the office. Under the plan, which won’t be available to all employees because of their role, workers must be in the office at least three days a week.

Cicconi said Google offices won’t look the same as employees remember, but the company will continue to provide meals, snacks, and amenities where possible. If an employee is working from a different country from where they are employed, they have until Sept. 1 to return to the U.S.