North American Google staff have been told to work from home, for the time being.
“Out of an abundance of caution, and for the protection of Alphabet and the broader community, we now recommend you work from home if your role allows,” Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president of global security, wrote in an email to workers.
But they said that offices will stay open for all Alphabet workers who are required to come in. US coronavirus cases have exceeded 1000 at the time of writing, and other companies have followed suit, with Apple bosses asking those who’s job allow them, to work from home. Same goes for Twitter, and Amazon has said it’s workers will get unlimited sick pay, to ensure they don’t worry whilst being ill.
In other moves to combat coronavirus, Google has:
- temporarily banned ads for medical face masks
- established a Covid-19 fund, so temporary staff and vendors can take paid sick leave if they have symptoms of the virus
- teamed up with the UK’s NHS to help prevent the spread of misinformation about the outbreak, by promoting correct health and travel advice when people search for coronavirus treatments or symptoms
