Google is ending home working — and will track staff badges in crackdown

GOOGLE is ending home working — and will track staff badges to see if they come into the office.

The tech giant was one of the first to champion WFH in the pandemic, and its software is used by millions to do their jobs from home.

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But it said yesterday: “There’s just no substitute for coming together in person.”

The firm had already updated policies to say most employees are expected in at least three days a week.

It will now crack down on those “consistently absent from the office”.

Chief people officer Fiona Cicconi told staff in an email that while “not everyone believes in ‘magical hallway conversations’, there’s no question that working together in the same room makes a positive difference”.

Ms Cicconi signalled that those previously approved for WFH could face changes.

She said: “For those who are remote and who live near a Google office, we hope you’ll consider switching to a hybrid work schedule”.

Google said badge data was viewed in aggregate and not attributed to individuals.

However, office attendance will be fed into performance reviews meaning workers could miss out on pay rises or risk their jobs.

Experts have said tech workers will be more nervous about their fate if they don’t come in.

Meta, Amazon, Twitter and Google culled 100,000 jobs recently.