Googlers won't be returning to office anytime soon

Google is testing the idea of a "flexible workweek" once it is safe to return to the office.

Dallas : FILE- In this Oct. 3, 2019 file photo, Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during a visit to El Centro College in Dallas. Pichai has apologized for how a prominent artificial intelligence researcher's abrupt departure last week has ���seeded doubts��� in the company. Pichai told Google employees in a memo Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020 obtained by Axios that the tech company is beginning a review of the circumstances leading up to Black computer scientist Timnit Gebru's exit and how Google could have ���led a more respectful process.���. AP/PTI(AP10-12-2020_000017B) (AP)

Alphabet Inc's Google will allow its employees to work from home until September next year, extending the return to the office by a few months, the New York Times reported on Monday.

The company was also testing the idea of a "flexible workweek" once it is safe to return to the office, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told the company's staff in an email on Sunday, according to the report.

As part of the plan, Google's employees would be expected to work at least three days a week in the office while working from home the other days, the newspaper report said.

"We are testing a hypothesis that a flexible work model will lead to greater productivity, collaboration, and well-being," Pichai wrote in the email.

Google was one of the first companies to ask its employees to work from home due to the pandemic. It has previously delayed the timing by when the employees should return to the office from January next year to July.