According to CNBC, Google is no longer required its US-based employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. According to The New York Times, a policy requiring personnel to be vaccinated before returning to work is still in force.
“At this point, we’re not requiring vaccinations as a condition of employment for US office workers,” Google spokesperson Lora Lee Erickson told The Verge after we first published this storey. “We’ll remain enforcing our COVID-19 vaccination policy, which requires COVID-19 immunizations or approved adjustments for everyone accessing our locations, because it’s one of the most critical ways we can keep our employees safe and our services running.” In addition, only Google employees working in Santa Clara County will be required to wear masks in the office, according to Erickson.
CNBC also obtained information from a note issued to Google employees by David Radcliffe, the company’s vice president of real estate and workplace services. Google is no longer requiring anyone visiting a Google facility, even vaccinated employees, to have a negative COVID-19 molecular test.
According to CNBC, “unvaccinated staff who are authorised to enter offices will still be required to follow additional standards, including testing and donning a mask.”
According to CNBC, Google is also loosening its policies on some of its well-known perks:
Radcliffe further stated that the firm is reopening services such as walk-in fitness centres and massages; reinstating full shuttle service; expanding free breakfast and lunch options; and reopening “all casual spaces” such as lounges, game rooms, music rooms, and massage chairs.
The business said in December that it will postpone its return to the workplace until 2022. Google has already committed to providing staff a 30-day notice before they are forced to return in person. The corporation has also announced plans for a hybrid work week, in which most employees will be required to work three days per week.
Apple has also begun to alter its COVID-19 standards, removing the requirement for customers to wear masks when shopping at Apple retail outlets in certain states. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple may also abolish the requirement for retail personnel to wear masks “in as little as two weeks.”