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Google has revised its Work from Anywhere (WFA) policy, a popular benefit that allowed employees to work from a location outside their main office for up to four weeks a year. Under the new rule, even one day of remote work will now count as a full week, according to internal company documents.
The change, which came into effect recently, means employees can no longer use WFA days to work from home or nearby locations. The policy was designed for staff to work temporarily from a different city, state, or country, not as an extension of regular work-from-home days.
A company document reportedly stated, “Whether you log one WFA day or five WFA days in a given standard work week, one WFA week will be deducted from your annual balance.” This means that an employee using just a single day remotely in a week will lose a full week from their WFA allowance.
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Google first introduced the WFA program during the Covid-19 pandemic, along with its hybrid work schedule, which allows employees to work from home two days a week. The hybrid policy remains unchanged. However, the WFA update is part of Google’s broader push to bring employees back to offices.
Earlier this year, Google also offered voluntary buyouts to some U.S.-based full-time employees and warned that remote workers who failed to follow the hybrid schedule could face layoffs. Under the new rules, employees cannot work from a Google office located in another state or country during their WFA period due to “legal and financial implications of cross-border work.” Those who choose to work from another location must follow local business hours corresponding to that time zone.
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The company has clarified that violations of the updated WFA policy could lead to disciplinary action or even termination. However, the rules may not apply to all staff members, for instance, data center employees and those required to be physically present in offices may be excluded.
The revised policy has reportedly caused confusion among employees. During a recent all-hands meeting, one employee asked why a single WFA day would count as an entire week. In response, John Casey, Google’s Vice President of Performance and Rewards, said that WFA was always meant to be taken in week-long blocks and not as a replacement for standard work-from-home arrangements.
