Google staff have blasted the company's back to work policy that saw them buy expensive homes after the company relocated, only to learn an executive had moved to New Zealand to work remotely.
CEO Sundar Pichai shared plans in May for a hybrid work model that would require most employees to work from their offices three days a week beginning starting from September.
This allowed for around 20% of the company to work remotely, while another 20% could work from new locations. But this came with a relocation that saw the Google office move some 40 miles away, to North Carolina from the company's office in Sunnyvale, California, with a portion of employees told to follow suit.
Those who relocated would get salary adjustments that staff were told would be based on the local market. First it was a 15% salary cut, then in late March, the team was told it would be a 25% cut. About a month later, the relocation plans were scrapped altogether.
It was then revealed Urs Hölzle, Google's senior vice president of technical infrastructure, announced plans to work remotely from New Zealand, angering employees who had paid for new homes under the controversial plan.
