Google endorses remote work until at least June 2021

Alphabet, the company that owns Google, has told its employees that they are free to work from home until at least June 2021. The decision is the latest in a series of warnings for office building developers and investors. Just a few months ago, the booming hi-tech industry was its star target group, responsible for an ever-increasing percentage of the total office take-up. As investment poured into succeeding generations of start-ups, the sector has required huge numbers of employees and enormous office spaces to house them. The fear for investors is that today's workplace adaptations to the coronavirus crisis could become permanent solutions. Google's announcement alone is expected to affect around 200,000 workers, but they will join other prominent hi-tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook who see remote work as the way forward. And it's not just an American approach. Siemens announced recently that it would allow 140,000 of its employees to work away from the office for up to three days per week.