Google recently announced its new post-pandemic work policy, requiring employees to work in the office for at least three days a week. That policy goes against the desires of many rank-and-file Google employees. A survey of over 1,000 Google employees showed that two-thirds feel unhappy with being forced to be in the office three days a week, and many threaten to leave.
Yet Google’s leadership is defending its requirement of mostly in-office work for all staff as necessary to protect the company’s social capital, meaning people’s connections to and trust in each other.