Google adds limits to ‘Work from Anywhere’ policy that began in Covid

Google It continues to place restrictions on remote work, this time with a popular policy called “Work from Anywhere.” was founded During the Covid pandemic.

The policy allows employees to work from a location outside of their main office for up to four weeks per calendar year. Even a single day of working remotely will now count as a full week, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC.

“Whether you log 1 WFA day or 5 WFA days in a given standard workweek, 1 WFA week will be deducted from your WFA weekly balance,” according to a document distributed over the summer shortly before the change went into effect.

Google is not changing its existing hybrid program, which was implemented during the pandemic and allows employees to work from home two days a week. WFA days differ from this policy and provide staff with the flexibility to work remotely rather than at home.

“WFA weeks cannot be used to work from home or nearby,” the document states.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tech companies are increasingly pushing employees to spend more time in the office, with the peak of Covid occurring nearly five years ago. Microsoft Last month it said employees would be expected to work three days a week in the office starting next year, moving to a policy that allows most to work 50% or more from home with manager approval. Amazon went further and instructed the company’s employees to spend five days a week in the office.

Google began offering voluntary buyouts to some full-time employees in the U.S. in early 2025, notifying remote employees from several units that their jobs would be considered for termination if they did not return to offices to work a hybrid schedule.

Under the latest changes, employees cannot work from a Google office in a separate state or country during their WFA period due to “legal and financial implications of working cross-border.” According to the rules, employees located in a different location may be required to work working hours appropriate to that time zone.

The WFA update does not apply to all Google employees and may not cover data center workers and employees who must be in physical offices. Violating the policy will result in disciplinary action or termination, the document states.

This issue was brought up at a recent general meeting.

The highest-scoring question submitted to Google’s internal system called the update “confusing.”

“Why does even one day of WFA count as a full week, and can we reconsider the restriction on using WFA weeks to work from home?” said the question.

John Casey, Google’s vice president of performance and rewards, said at the meeting that WFA “aims to meet Googlers where they are during the pandemic,” according to audio recordings obtained by CNBC.

“The policy was always intended to be taken in one-week increments and not to be used as a substitute for working from home during a normal hybrid workweek,” Casey said.

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