Google workers face to a tougher guideline regarding work from home.
According to a CNBC story, Google’s move to include badge checking and attendance in performance reviews has angered and disappointed its staff, who feel that management is overstepping in its control over physical presence.
Google changed their hybrid policy for three-day workweeks, which states that badge tracking and reported attendance would be considered when evaluating employees’ performance. Employees who have previously been granted permission to work from home will also have their status reviewed. Fiona Cicconi, Google’s chief people officer, stated as much in a blog post announcing the revised policy. “There’s just no replacement for coming together in person,” she added.
According to a CNBC article, many Google employees are upset and irate about the decision and feel that management is going too far in controlling physical attendance.
Employees are using memes and messages on an internal website called Memegen to vent their frustration. Employees at Google claim that they are treated like little kids. One of the most popular memes uploaded by an employee, as reported in the CNBC article, says, “If you cannot attend the office today, your parents should submit an absence request.” In front of a whiteboard was a photo of Fiona Cicconi.
The more serious difficulty of the future for Google employees is another issue, particularly for those who have relocated to other towns and states after being given permission to work remotely.
According to a Google spokeswoman, the badge data is “aggregated” for business leaders. The spokeswoman stated in a statement that now that we’ve completely adopted the hybrid work week, business leaders may see statistics showing how their teams have implemented the hybrid work model. She added that Google doesn’t “share personal Googler badges data” in its reports.
Group executives will find out who hasn’t been in the office often enough, according to an internal memo. Employees who are “consistently absent from the office” will get notices, the policy states.
According to the notice, managers of non-remote Google employees who have been regularly missing from the office will be tagged on their emails (according to local constraints) so they can assist the Google workers with either scaling back to the office or looking into alternate flexibility options.