Google CEO Sundar Pichai says three days in-office is ‘Good Balance’

The COVID pandemic has led to the closure of corporate offices in several countries for more than a year. Now, as the cases of COVID-19 are reducing across the world, countries are finally resuming the work from office.

Big companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft assisted their employees and equipped them for work fully from home when the pandemic was at its peak. Even as the offices across the world are opening, these companies are not willing to let go of the work-from-home model yet.

Google has decided to opt for a hybrid work model, where employees are only required to work from the office for three days a week and can work from home for the rest of the days. In an email written by Google CEO Sundar Pichai earlier this year, the company has adopted the model for a “hybrid workplace.”

In the email, it was mentioned by Pichai that 60 percent of the employees would come together in the office a few days every week, another 20 percent would work in new office locations, and the remaining 20 percent would work from home, adhering to the new working model.

Sundar Pichai, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, said that the hybrid work model can give the employees two days off from their commute where they can work from home. He also explained the importance of working from the office, stating that it is essential “because they can generate ideas together that they can’t generate apart.”

During the interview, Pichai said that they are embracing the working model as a challenge. He further added, “The challenge of hybrid work, some people being on video, some people in [the office], is how do you really make it feel like everyone seems they’re fully participating.”

Sundar Pichai also revealed that he is back to the office for two to three days every week, as he missed his morning commute, which provided him the time to reflect before the workday begins, during the work-from-home period amid the pandemic.