Google Approves Thousands of Work-From-Home Requests From Employees Despite Potential Salary Cut

Several of Google’s employees have opted to reduce their pay in order to work remotely.

Google has always determined their salary ranges based on the location of the employee in addition to any specific skill sets or qualifications.

Because of this, if an employee decides to work from home in an alternate location or relocate to another office, their salary shifts accordingly. Technically this means an individual’s pay could increase, but most of them have accepted pay cuts, according to CBS News.

Google recently developed a “Work Location Tool” to aid employees in navigating their decisions. 

"Our compensation packages have always been determined by location, and we always pay at the top of the local market based on where an employee works from," a Google spokesperson told the outlet. 

Google recently altered its deadline for employees to return to the office from September to October, referring to the recent spikes in COVID-19 cases and the associated variant. 

10,000 out of Google’s total 135,000 employees have submitted official requests to shift their work location or modality, and 85 percent of the requests have been approved. 

The 15 percent of requests that were denied were due to roles that either had heavy face-to-face interaction, required specialized equipment, or came from internal teams that are committed to working from a specific area or office.

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